On the Edge with Eddie Jobson
"Globe Music" and Beyond

Unlike many progressive rockers who strive for a certain sound, Jobson seeks out new and exciting musical possibilities regardless of genre constraints. A recent trinity of musical works proves this—four seasons scoring the successful CBS series Nash Bridges; producing and remixing the recent Voices of Life compilation for the Bulgarian Women’s Choir; and creating Legacy, a progressive rock opus. These projects may seem quite disparate on the surface, but they’re not surprising given the eclectic musical path the British musician has forged for himself over the past 25 years: He’s appeared on over 50 albums, from his early days with Curved Air and Roxy Music, his progressive adventures with UK and Frank Zappa, his two mid-’80s solo albums (including 1985’s Theme of Secrets, the first album entirely performed and recorded on the Synclavier), on through to his recent work. He’s also won CLIO awards for Best Score for work on Amtrak and Bermuda tourism commercials.

Jobson (center) with members of the Bulgarian Women's Choir
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Jobson’s most recent high-profile gig was scoring nearly 100 episodes of CBS’ Nash Bridges. Star and series executive producer Don Johnson knew Frank Zappa’s music fairly well and thus was aware of Jobson’s musical chops. “It was his directive to do the score in a world music style,” explains Jobson. “He was persistent in his request for percussion, percussion and more percussion, especially African percussion. What became a bigger challenge was that many of the normal tools you would use for scoring were removed—such as harmony, melody, being able to use synth pads or strings. Any of the typical things that you would evoke emotion with in order to capture the sense of the scene were essentially forbidden.”

The composer relished the challenge, generating an utterly original palette of sounds. Jobson incorporated acoustic guitar, didgeridoo and quirky instruments such as a harmonica and a Jew’s harp. “It was a great experience, because it made me learn a lot about certain types of music, from rap to mariachi, that I otherwise may not have fully listened to,” he says. “This whole process certainly expanded my understanding of musical styles.”

Some episodes were done with specific styles: One episode featuring Nash’s MIA brother “started off as Chinese and ends up as Vietnamese in style,” Jobson notes. Other shows had only one dominant style, like bagpipes and Irish pennywhistle in the “Brothers McMillen” episode. Further, Jobson composed nearly all of the background music heard in various locations, be it a Chinese restaurant or a shopping mall or a low-rider’s car.

Jobson's L.A.-area studio
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Although he had a music editor, Jobson engineered all of his tracks himself. “I played all the instruments. The music was all programmed on the Synclavier but using external MIDI samplers and synths.” Working on Nash Bridges took up eight months a year for four years. “Television is a very tough medium for a composer,” Jobson says. “Everything is done under such pressure and deadlines. Demands are being made all the time to sound like record tracks, which people spend weeks, months, even years on, and yet, as a TV composer, you literally have to turn the track around in two or three hours. We did 1,500 pieces of music for Nash. I was making 15 cues a week, often with just two or three days to do it in.”

After the fourth season, which ended in the spring of 2000, Jobson decided to retire from Nash Bridges, because there were two other projects he needed to finish, both involving the Bulgarian Women’s Choir. He had begun working with them in 1995 for his Legacy album—which was originally intended to be a UK reunion album but evolved into something bigger—as well as producing and remixing tracks for a compilation of the choir’s music.

Reprinted with permission from

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