Paul Buckmaster was born in London on 13 June 1946. His father, John Caravoglia Buckmaster, was an English actor[a] and his mother, Ermenegilda ("Gilda") Maltese, was an Italian concert pianist and graduate of the Naples Conservatory of Music.[1]
At age four, Buckmaster started attending a small private school in London called the London Violoncello School, and continued studying cello under several private teachers until he was ten. In 1957, his mother took him and his two siblings to Naples, where he auditioned with cello professor Willy La Volpe, to be assessed as eligible for a scholarship. From 1958 to 1962 he divided his time between studying music in Naples and working for his GCEs in London, then won a scholarship to study the cello at the Royal Academy of Music, from which he graduated with a performance diploma in 1967.[1]
He assisted Miles Davis with the preparation of On the Corner (1972) and wrote the arrangements for the studio sessions, in which he also participated, at Davis' request, by humming bass lines and rhythms to lead the musicians. These arrangements were often used as a starting point to be transformed until what was being played bore no resemblance to what he had written. This was in keeping with the Stockhausian approach that Buckmaster and Davis had discussed in the weeks leading up to the session.[1]
Film work
As a member of Third Ear Band, Buckmaster co-wrote and performed on Music from Macbeth, the soundtrack album to Roman Polanski's film Macbeth (1972).[citation needed] Buckmaster wrote some instrumental tracks for Harry Nilsson's film Son of Dracula (1974).[6] He also played with Bowie and his band in the recordings for the original soundtrack to the science fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), in which Bowie starred as Thomas Jerome Newton. Buckmaster stated in Mojo magazine's feature "60 Years of Bowie", that he had played cello on the original soundtrack recordings,[7] on which Carlos Alomar, J. Peter Robinson and others were also included:
There were a couple of medium tempo rock instrumental pieces, with simple motifs and rifly kind of grooves, with a line-up of David's rhythm section (Carlos Alomar et al.) plus J. Peter Robinson on Fender Rhodes and me on cello and some synth overdubs, using ARP Odyssey and Solina. There was also a piece I wrote and performed using some beautifully made mbiras (African thumb pianos) I had purchased earlier that year, plus cello, all done by multiple overdubbing.
—Paul Buckmaster, "60 Years of Bowie" (Mojo Classic Magazine - Vol 2 Issue 2)
Later, the film's director Nicolas Roeg decided not to use the recordings but rather existing songs as the soundtrack for the movie.[8]
In 1995 Buckmaster composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced the original score to Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys.[9] He also composed the score for the 1997 film Most Wanted.[9][10]
Personal life
Buckmaster had two siblings, Rosemary and Adrian. He married Diana Lewis in 1970; they divorced three years later. From a relationship with Rosalie Van Leer, he had a son, Banten. Buckmaster died on 7 November 2017, aged 71, in Los Angeles from undisclosed causes.[1]
^John Caravoglia Buckmaster (1914–1995) should not be confused with English actor John Rodney Buckmaster (1915–1983), the son of Gladys Cooper. John C. Buckmaster—son of actor-manager Charles Buckmaster, of Italian ancestry—started out as a young actor in the 1930s. During WWII, he enlisted in the London Scottish regiment, where he served with Bruce Copp, also an English actor. John C. Buckmaster saw action in North Africa, then north into Sicily and finally in and around Naples, during late 1943 and early 1944. There he met a young concert pianist, Ermenegilda ("Gilda") Maltese (1918–1989), during a production of Madama Butterfly at the newly restored San Carlo Opera House. They married on 15 August 1945 and, after the war, made their home in Earl's Court, London.[13]: 67–69 They had three children: Paul, Rosemary, and Adrian. John C. Buckmaster continued to have small acting jobs until 1989. In 1994, he moved to Sydney where he died on 9 March 1995.
