Donald Oscar Banks was an Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music.
11 Facts About Don Banks
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Don Banks learned the saxophone as a boy in Australia and was proficient enough to be invited to play in the Graeme Bell band, then one of the finest outside America.
3.
Don Banks served with the Australian Army Medical Corps between 1941 and 1946 and began to study piano, harmony and counterpoint privately.
4.
Don Banks attended the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music for two years before moving to Europe in 1950.
5.
Don Banks became a friend and associate of Gunther Schuller and was much involved with Tubby Hayes, writing several compositions for him.
6.
Don Banks returned to Australia in 1972, as Head of Composition and Electronic Music Studies at the Canberra School of Music.
7.
Don Banks remained there till 1977, then had a series of educational positions.
8.
Don Banks died at his home in the Sydney suburb of McMahons Point, after an eight-year battle with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
9.
Don Banks left a widow, Valerie, daughters Kaaren and Phillipa, and a son, Simon.
10.
Don Banks scored 19 feature films, 22 documentaries and more than 60 episodes of various television serials.
11.
Don Banks is credited for composing music in the following films:.