“I think every songwriter since then is very aware of the privilege, and the honour, of carrying on in that line. “For the most part, it was John Barry’s musical voice coming through,” says Hale.

The blaring trumpet was the hallmark of one player, Derek Watkins, who played on every Bond film from Dr No to Skyfall until his death in 2013.įor performers and songwriters, popular and classical musicians alike, Bond represents a small, prestigious cohort including some of the best musicians alive – and the pressure to do them justice. “What you should really be saying is: ‘That’s John Barry’.” Bond is such a cultural touchstone, it has enshrined individual musicians and even sounds, such as the thundering tam-tam that heralds 'Goldfinger'. “He went to dictate – to establish – a musical tone and language where you go: ‘That’s Bond’,” says Hale. No on, Barry extended Norman’s surf-guitar theme with percussion, strings and brass and jazz influences, creating a blueprint distinct enough for all subsequent Bond composers to follow. (Consider how readily it’s parodied.) From 1962’s Dr. That is the achievement of John Barry, the York-born composer who, from the 1960s through to his death in 2011, shaped what we think of now as the sound of spies.

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