Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ Cinemedia Promotions) - Lakeshore Records will release the DON MCKAY - Original Soundtrack, available digitally (iTunes and Amazon Digital) on May 18, 2010. Steve Bramson (JAG, In
Enemy Hands) composed the original score. Steve Bramson was exposed to music from infancy. His father, Alan, was a Juilliard graduate and became proprietor of a community music school and music store in suburban New York City, his mother, Berenice, was a noted operatic soprano.
Although Bramson received a BA in economics from the University of New Hampshire in 1978, he was consistently active in the music department, playing and arranging for the university jazz ensemble. He enrolled in the renowned Arrangers Holiday summer program at the Eastman School of Music, a life-redirecting experience, which revitalized his commitment to a career in music. His first forays into film scoring, two short animation projects (The White Gazelle and The Owl And The Pussycat), went on to win Student Academy Awards.
Upon graduation Bramson began a long association with esteemed film composer Laurence Rosenthal. In the early 1990's, Rosenthal asked him to write a minute of music for the Stephen Spielberg-produced Tiny Toon Adventures. That short cue caught the ear of music supervisor Bruce Broughton and ultimately led to his joining the circle of series composers and to an Emmy� for his score to The Horror of Slumber Party Mountain. Bramson scored dozens of episodes of TV series including Our House, Matlock, The Father Dowling Mysteries and Jake and the Fatman.
In 1995, Bramson was asked to come on as composer for the television series JAG. Joining half way through the program's first season, Bramson stayed on through the end of its final (10th) season scoring more than 200 episodes in total and earned him two Emmy� Award nominations. He is currently working on a concert piece for trumpet and orchestra for Jon Lewis.
"Writing the music for Jake Goldberger's Don McKay presented the challenge of blending elements of mystery, romance, comedy and thriller into a single score,' described Bramson. 'Except for the couple of scenes where the music needed to be intense, the score is quite restrained, the intention being to keep the audience on short reins as the story unfolds."
Don McKay (Academy Award Nominee Thomas Haden Church) is a quiet and unassuming high school janitor. Separated from his high school sweetheart, Sonny (Academy Award Nominee Elisabeth Shue), for twenty-five years, Don still carries a love for her. When Don receives a letter telling him she is terminally ill, he drops everything and rushes to their hometown to be by her side. Upon arriving, Don and Sonny reconcile and immediately rekindle their romance, mutually agreeing that it would be a symbolic gesture to be married for the short time Sonny has left.
Everything changes, however, when Don - alone in the house - is confronted by Lance Pryce (James Rebhorn), Sonny's doctor. Out of nowhere, Dr. Pryce violently attacks, and Don accidentally kills him in their struggle. In a state of confusion and panic, Don hides the body in the woods behind Sonny's house. To make matters worse, it becomes apparent that Sonny believes the doctor is still alive. She in fact claims to speak with him on a daily basis! Don, knowing that he took this man's life with his own hands, has no idea what's going on. Still haunted by a terrible tragedy from his past that forced him to flee his hometown, he is not comfortable going to the police, and it only makes matters worse when it seems that Sonny's live in nurse, Marie (Academy Award Nominee Melissa Leo), is on to him. Seemingly alone and trapped in a game of murder and deceit, Don must solve the mysteries that present themselves while clinging to the hope that he isn't betrayed by the love that he lost so many years ago.
Image Entertainment presents DON MCKAY, in theaters now. The DON MCKAY - Original Soundtrack on Lakeshore Records will be released digitally on May 18th.
