Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951 in New York City, New York) is a prolific American musician and film composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works mainly in jazz and Electronic Music. Since his professional debut in 1983, he had scored over 120 films, including Never Cry Wolf, The Hitcher, Point Break, A River Runs Through It, Nell, Blade, Crash, The Black Dahlia, and October Sky.
Some of Isham's film scores include:
- Never Cry Wolf (1983)
- Trouble in Mind (1985)
- The Hitcher (1986)
- Made in Heaven (1987)
- The Beast of War (1988)
- Reversal of Fortune (1990)
- Point Break (1991)
- Little Man Tate (1991)
- Billy Bathgate (1991)
- A Midnight Clear (1992)
- Cool World (1992)
- A River Runs Through It (1992)
- The Public Eye (1992)
- Of Mice and Men (1992)
- Nowhere to Run (1993)
- Fire in the Sky (1993)
- Made in America (1993)
- Short Cuts (1993)
- Romeo is Bleeding (1993)
- The Getaway (1994)
- Quiz Show (1994)
- Timecop (1994)
- Nell (1994)
- Losing Isaiah (1995)
- The Net (1995)
- Home for the Holidays (1995)
- Last Dance (1996)
- Gotti (1996)
- Fly Away Home (1996)
- Kiss the Girls (1997)
- The Gingerbread Man (1998)
- Blade (1998)
- Breakfast of Champions (1999)
- October Sky (1999)
- Rules of Engagement (2000)
- Men of Honor (2000)
- Save the Last Dance (2001)
- Life as a House (2001)
- Don't Say a Word (2001)
- The Majestic (2001)
- Impostor (2001)
- The Cooler (2003)
- Spartan (2004)
- Miracle (2004)
- Highwaymen (2004)
- Crash (2004)
- Racing Stripes (2005)
- Kicking & Screaming (2005)
- In Her Shoes (2005)
- Eight Below (2006)
- Invincible (2006)
- Bobby (2006)
- The Black Dahlia (2006)
- Freedom Writers (2007)
- In the Valley of Elah (2007)
- Lions for Lambs (2007)
- No Reservations (2007)
- Next (2007)
- The Mist (2007)
- The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
- The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
- Fame (2009)
- The Crazies (2010)
- The Mechanic (2011)
- Dolphin Tale (2011)
- Warrior (2011)
- The Lucky One (2012)
- 42 (2013)
- Beyond the Lights (2014)
- The Longest Ride (2015)
- Mr Church (2016)
- The Accountant (2016)
- Megan Leavey (2017)
- Togo (2019)
- Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
- Honest Thief (2020)
- Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
- Blacklight (2022)
- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)
His works for television include:
- Chicago Hope: Pilot episode score and series theme. (1994)
- From the Earth to the Moon (1998)
- "We Have Cleared the Tower"
- "For Miles and Miles"
- Once Upon a Time (2011-18)
- American Crime (2015-16)
- Black Mirror: "Arkangel" (2017)
- Cloak & Dagger (2018) (2018)
- Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams: "Safe and Sound" (2018)
- Godfather of Harlem (2019)
- Little Fires Everywhere (2020)
Tropes associated with this composer:
- Ambient: Many of his scores consist largely of minimalist, atmospheric electronic soundscapes, including Never Cry Wolf, The Hitcher, and The Beast of War, just to name a few.
- Associated Composer: For Frank Darabont, Alan Rudolph, Robert Harmon, Paul Haggis, Scott Hicks, and Gavin O'Connor.
- Cyberpunk Is Techno: The score to Blade features a mixture of upbeat electronic music and atmospheric ambient passages to go with the film's cyberpunk-like aesthetic.
- One-Woman Wail: Isham's composition "Sense of Touch", based on the traditional Welsh song "Lisa Lam" and featured heavily in Crash, employs this method.
- Sad Battle Music: Much of Isham's score in The Beast of War has a simultaneously foreboding and poignant quality to it, evoking the sense of inevitable doom that awaits the film's ill-fated tank crew.
