Biography

Alex Mandel is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer for film, TV and radio.  

The latest PIXAR feature film, Brave (2012), features two songs Mandel wrote for the movie: "Into the Open Air", and "Touch the Sky" -- the latter, with lyrics co-written with Director Mark Andrews. They are both sung by Scottish musician Julie Fowlis, and feature guitar work and arrangements by Mandel. "Touch the Sky" has struck a chord with global audiences, with over 4 Million views on YouTube and more than 20 fan cover versions; it's even featured daily at Disneyland's "World of Color".  The more contemplative "Into the Open Air" featured in the film during a touching scene between mother and daughter, and in a TV spot celebrating Mother's Day. Brave has been embraced globally, and has grossed over $500 Million worldwide.

recording guitar for "BRAVE" 

As composer and musical director for the NPR/PBS radio and TV show Snap Judgment LIVE, Mandel's accompanied storytellers with a live band at sold-out venues in Oakland, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Austin, Texas. One of the performances, a compelling story by 15-year old Noah St. John, went viral, racking up over 530,000 views in two months.

He also composed the orchestral score for the PIXAR short film "Your Friend the Rat" -- directed by Academy Award Nominee Jim Capobianco (Best Original Screenplay, Ratatouille) -- which won the Annie Award in 2007 for Best Animated Short Film, and is featured on the Pixar Shorts Volume 2 Blu-Ray, available in November 2012.

Mandel provided the score and songs for Tracy, Dan Scanlon's debut feature film (Director, Monsters University). Other film scores include Violet (dir. Mark Andrews), Trifles (dir. Pam Walker), and Mr. Incredible and Pals (dir. Roger Gould) from the Incredibles DVD.

Mandel started writing songs at the age of 7, and performing them in bands when he was 12 years old. Since then, he has released four critically-acclaimed albums of his songs, one with The Echo Falls and three with The Fingers.  

Mandel has worked at Pixar for the past decade. As a manager on such films as Up, Toy Story 3, and Cars 2, Mandel is a filmmaker well versed in collaboration.    

Writing Songs for Pixar's Brave

One of the two songs I wrote for Pixar's Brave, "Into the Open Air," is featured in a new commercial celebrating Mother's Day:




Almost exactly a year ago, I was walking through the Pixar atrium when I heard a loud voice yell "ALEX MANDEL!!!"

I turned to my right and descending the stairs was Mark Andrews, Director of Brave.  "I have an opportunity for you," he said.

He explained there was a scene in the film that he felt needed a song, but they hadn't found one that worked yet. He'd like me to try and create one. Of course, I said what any self-respecting singer/songwriter would say under these conditions."You got it!"

I've known Mark for a number of years -- from scoring his short film "Violet," (see previous post) and jamming with him at the WALL-E wrap party (another story). Mark had liked my most recent album of songs, The Echo Falls. Even though it was a temporary song for the upcoming screening I was determined to create the best song I possibly could.

I got to watch a rough cut of the scene, and co-director Steve Purcell and Mark provided some helpful clues to what they were looking for.  I also recalled having lunch with Brenda Chapman where she told me her inspiration for the story -- her relationship with her daughter -- and as a father of two I could relate.

That night, once my kids were asleep I sat down on my couch with my guitar and notebook.

Folk-rock music from the British Isles has always held a special fascination for me.  Led Zepplin's "Black Mountainside" led me back to Bert Jansch's "Black Waterside."  I love the alternate guitar tunings; the mixolydian modal quality to the melodies. Richard & Linda Thompson's "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight", Traffic's "John Barleycorn", Nick Drake, Donovan, Fairport Convention...the list goes on.  The melodies of the Scots-Irish came with them to the Appalachian Mountains, a seed from which bluegrass grew. Listening to Scottish folk songs, especially Lomax's field recordings from the 50s, I was comforted at how familiar the music felt. An invisible thread that connects those Scots-Irish melodies, bluegrass, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, right through "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and most recently, Mumford and Sons (who penned a great track for the movie, sung by Birdy).

I found myself in an odd tuning which suggested the voicings of the song, and I found the melody with the words "This love it is a distant star/guiding us home wherever we are."

The song seemed to fit the scene...so Mark asked me to write a SECOND song -- on that one, Mark & collaborated on the lyrics, and it wound up as "Touch the Sky."

Although I normally sing my own songs, I knew this song needed to be sung by a woman's voice. Julie Fowlis, who is an amazing Scottish-Gaelic singer and musician, was selected to sing the songs, and she truly did a wonderful job. I'm thrilled to say both of the songs made it into the film and soundtrack. (That's me playing guitar.)

Like all the best Pixar movies, Brave has got thrills and emotion & I can't wait for the world to experience it on June 22.

Snap Judgment LIVE in DC

On November 12, 2011, Snap Judgment LIVE performed in the heart of Washington DC at the Sidney Harmon Hall, just blocks from the White House. I was joined by our host and spiritual leader: Glynn Washington, and my band, David Brandt (drums) and Tim Frick (bass).

The piece we did with 15 year-old wunderkind Noah St. John has gone viral, racking up 250,000 views in a few days. Watch, and you'll see why:



If you liked that don't miss the rest of the show. Videos are posted below.


Glynn, the band and I met up the week before in Oakland to work with half the storytellers. (As usual, 1 hour per storyteller.)  Then we flew to DC, where we had a second rehearsal at NPR headquarters, where they have a nice studio:

Here's me and Jack McCarthy exploring ideas for his piece. 

Noah St. John returned for the finale. 

After the show Tim, Dave and I explored DC. I found the MLK monument very moving. All in all another amazing experience bringing together live storytelling and music. 

  

Snap Judgment LIVE on TV and Radio this week

On Friday and Saturday, June 3 and 4, Snap Judgment LIVE gave two sold-out performances at the theater at the Oakland Museum of California. This is the third Snap Judgment LIVE -- local storytellers/poets telling their tales, accompanied by my compositions, as performed by me and the genius musical mind-readers David Brandt (percussion) and Tim Frick (bass, and arch-top guitar), and DJ.

There was less than a week to compose music, work with the storytellers, and make it all happen. They kept adding stories, and we wound up with an hour and 20 minute show.

Somehow it all came together. The stories were phenomenal, moving, upsetting, and hilarious. Host/storyteller Glynn Washington programmed the stories perfectly, so that it gets heavier in the middle and by the end everyone is ready for the catharsis of humor.

Like life itself, there's a ethereal quality to a live performance like this. You meet strangers, and by living with and scoring their stories, a week later, you feel that you know them. This time we had the pleasure of working with Joshua Walters, Joyce Lee and Jamie DeWolf for the second time, so we shared a short-hand that shows.

You share the connection of climbing on a stage with limited rehearsal, and using every bit of creativity and professionalism you have to make the performance work. The audience was laughing, crying, laughing again. Both nights there were standing ovations. The band walked out of there in a daze, and sat on Broadway in Downtown Oakland eating food from a street truck. Did that happen?

Well, it DID happen and the radio show that airs on NPR this week, and the TV show above (unexpurgated, folks) is the proof. I feel privileged to work with these amazing storytellers and poets, and the whole Snap Judgment team.

You can watch the TV show in HD here, or listen to the radio show here, or check out the Podcast on iTunes.

"Tracy" Soundtrack Update

Last year Dan Scanlon released "Tracy" with a premiere at Pixar. Dan and I had been working on it for about 4 years. Since then it's been doing the film festival circuit. Hopefully it will be available on DVD soon; it's a hilarious and surprisingly touching film. Dan found some spare time from his Pixar day job to do artwork for the soundtrack album. We'll print a very limited number of these CDs, so please contact me if you'd like a copy. Here's the album art (Thanks Dan!)

Snap Judgment LIVE returns...

Snap Judgment, the NPR weekly radio show hosted by Glynn Washington, went on the air in June. The response has been great, with Ira Glass calling it the best new thing he's heard on NPR, and over 15,000 Facebook fans to date.

The first TV show, with me acting as musical director/composer, that we shot at SF's Brava Theater back in June, aired nationally last week. (Facebook users: check out the titles featuring stop motion animation and my theme song here.) The radio version aired on NPR in August; you can hear it here.

In September we took this episode 1 live show on the road, flying to Denver for the annual Public Radio Program Directors Conference. On the 38th floor of the Hilton, we performed for an enthusiastic group of NPR folk. Glynn, Joshua Walters, Joyce Lee, Jamie DeWolf and the band roamed the streets of Denver at night, in search of schnitzel & waffles, pickles and beer...and we were not disappointed. (If there is a recording of our funk beat to Glynn chanting "IRA GLASS! IRA GLASS!" I would like to hear it.)

Just last Friday, the Snap returned to the BRAVA THEATER to film not one, but two additional TV shows -- "Animal Tales" and "True Confessions." Whereas the first episode mined local talent exclusively, this time the locals were joined by a group of storytellers who flew up from L.A.

Once again, I had one hour with each of the nine storytellers to pitch them my score ideas, and collaborate with them. This is such an intense and enjoyable process. I've listened to their stories, composed 2 or 3 themes, and then get to meet the storytellers for the first time, pitch them my musical interpretation of their pieces. I have an amazingly sensitive group including Dave Brandt -- percussionist extraordinaire -- and Tim Frick, bassist -- both of whom I sometimes think are reading my mind. We were also joined by DJ Deeandroid on the turntable, who fit right in.

Some amazing things happened during these sessions. Tabitha Christopher, who hails from St. Thomas has a great story about her pet goat Big Jim. Without giving too much away, I asked her if there was some sound or song that she heard in St. Thomas growing up that meant it was meal time.... and she broke out in this traditional song about meal time! Too good to be true. Dave Brandt busted an energetic souka beat, I adapted the melody on guitar and we had a tune that invoked the setting of the piece and reflected Tabitha's energetic delivery. A great moment.

Erol Dolen's story evolved in a fascinating way. I felt it was a serious piece, and had composed a somber, longing theme. To contrast, I had also written a Fellini-esque accordian piece for a scene in a Russian brothel. Erol and Glynn edited the piece and the end result was, I think, very powerful.

Katherine McEwan hails from England, and she had a great piece about how Americans assume she grew up on the set of Sense & Sensibility, when her town in Northern England looked more like The Wire.... I had a blast with this one, marrying a Baroque Harsichord line with a hip-hop beat. It flowed smoothly and the results were great.

Scott Kravitz has a piece about how he stole his pet Dog from a homeless teenage girl. The tone of the piece is very understated and clever, but there is heart to it, too. I took a cue from a line in the piece that referenced Phillip Glass and the soundtrack from "Garden State" -- the line was cut, but the music evolved from those two touchstones. This piece really came alive on stage; the audience responded to it, and the music added some subtle emotion to Scott's understated but effective delivery.

Joyce Lee, poet and storyteller extraordinaire adapted her stranger than fiction piece about a perfect boyfriend who turned out to be too good to be true. This was the second time working with Joyce, and this time I was glad the music really complemented her piece -- including some hilarious James Brown hits and Sam Cooke/Al Green R&B stylings.

There were great pieces too from Kate Ascot-Evans, Anneke Jong & Thayer Walker, and of course Mr. Glynn Washington. We had performed Glynn's "Dancing While Black" in Denver, and it had killed there, but on Friday night it was even better, captured for posterity by the cameras. Glynn tells his stories differently every single time. I love it. It's collective improvisation, the spirit of Jazz, and it keeps you on your toes. You've got to keep your ears and eyes open, and follow his feet.

Can't wait till these two episodes air, I feel like we're evolving the medium of live storytelling with live music each show we do.

Snap Judgement LIVE!

A few weeks ago, I was at my son's baseball game in Albany, having just finished Toy Story 3 and half-wondering what I was going to do with myself, suddenly finding myself in possession of some extra time. As if on cue, the phone rang.

It was my friend Glynn Washington. Glynn has a weekly radio show on NPR called "Snap Judgement," which starts in July and is definitely worth checking out. Glynn asked if I'd consider being the musical director for a TV Pilot they were filming in 4 weeks. It would involve "scoring" stories for six slam storytellers, and performing this music live on stage. The show would be filmed for airing on Public Television in the Fall. The musical style was hip-hop.

I called my trusty friends Dave Brandt (The Echo Falls), and Tim Frick (The Fingers). We added Ben Bercasio, aka DJ Smoov Groovs, who works on the radio show with Glynn. I immersed myself in a great hip-hop Pandora station Glynn sent me, and the stories themselves.

I did some sketches in Reason, and purchased a new keyboard that allowed me to trigger loops, solo and mix tracks, and switch sounds without touching my computer. The new group- gathered in our rehearsal space in Oakland to test out some grooves....

At the next session, the storytellers joined us. This was a really talented group of storytellers and performers. Each was eager to collaborate and integrate music into his story. It was a really fun process; we had 1-2 hours with each storyteller, so we worked fast.

The theme song I composed wound up being the main hip-hop track in the show. Other styles that emerged included: acoustic blues slide guitar, Afrobeat, Black church organ music, Indian-infused trip hop, 70s funk.

A little more than a week later we were onstage at the Brava Theater for two days of shooting. The show was sold out, filled with friends, family and fans.

The best way to see what happened will be to watch the show when it airs on Public Television in the Fall. In the meantime, here are some photos from the show.

UPDATE: The radio version has aired nationally on NPR. You can listen to it here.

Onstage with Jamie De Wolf. This one came together really fast, I was really pleased with it.

Backstage before the show. Apparently folks were shorter back in the day when this was a Vaudeville Theater, because the ceilings are pretty low back there.

Critical Acclaim for The Echo Falls

The Echo Falls debut was officially released on 11.17.09. The critical response has been overwhelmingly positive, very gratifying.  

Click here to read reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED Radio, East Bay Express, The Big Takeover, Electronic Musician, Examiner, Metromix, and many more.

Click here to purchase the CD....or search "The Echo Falls" on iTunes. 

Click here to join our Facebook group, and hear about upcoming shows and news. 

Thanks for your support!

The Echo Falls featured on NPR

The Echo Falls and Alex Mandel's scoring were featured this morning on San Francisco's NPR - KQED radio!

Listen to the review here.

Host Cy Musiker and San Francisco Chronicle Executive Datebook editor David Wiegand look ahead at the hottest tickets and most spectacular shows this coming week in Northern California.