Composer Morgan Visconti has signed with JSM, New York. Visconti comes to the shop after a nine-year stay at New York-based Crushing Music, where he began as an engineer and quickly rose to composer.
Visconti said he liked the atmosphere at JSM, citing the shop's "cutting-edge" work and the fact that many of its writers pursue projects outside of the spot arena. Visconti described his own style as "a combination of songwriting and scoring," which traversed a spectrum from "techno, in-your-face tracks" to "guitar-driven work." Visconti said that his spot philosophy was to "always try to go for the emotion. I try to write something with a hook, some kind of a melody that people can latch onto. It's different from spot to spot—the techno jobs tend to be more about the groove or rhythm rather than the melody." Visconti said that when possible, he likes to "integrate the sound design as part of the music. … I think it's more pleasing to the ear that way."
On the side
Visconti is also involved in numerous side projects. He has produced and co-written songs for The Billygoats, a Nashville-based alternative country band; closer to home, he is the singer and lead guitarist for New York-based Pigsty, a band he described as "somewhere between the Beatles and Roxy Music." He is also working on an album project with songwriter Sam Bonner.
Visconti said that he liked the balance of spot composing and his own endeavors. He added that JSM supported his outside activities because its principals understood that those activities feed into the spot writing, and vice versa. "I learned a lot doing records, but I learned a lot doing jingles," he said. "Occasionally, I find that the music I'm doing for jingles is actually a step ahead of what's going on in the pop world."
Joel Simon, JSM president/ executive producer/composer, described Visconti as a versatile musician, a keyboardist and guitar player who "for a young guy is unbelievably seasoned, professional and fantastically talented." Simon noted that Visconti's spotwork and other musical pursuits demonstrated that he could compose anything ranging from alternative to R&B to "whatever he wants to do." He added that regardless of the musical genre, "the most important thing about why Morgan's here, and why the other [composers] are here, is that they each have their own style."
Just before leaving Crushing, Visconti and Crushing composer Billy Alessi co-wrote a variation on the old Dr Pepper standby for Dr Pepper's "World," via Young & Rubicam, New York. Visconti said the new piece was a "traditional pop song with a drum 'n bass arrangement to it." Other credits for Visconti include Ford's "Windstar Moms" via Ogilvy & Mather, New York, a piece that transitions from a choral orchestration to a trip-hop-flavored conclusion; and funky R&B tracks for Union Bay's "Unhooked Bra" and "Unpaid Bill," via Toth Design & Advertising, Concord, Mass.
beginnings
Visconti's indoctrination into the music industry came at an early age when he worked for his father, renowned record producer Tony Visconti. The elder Visconti, who has worked with the likes of David Bowie, Thin Lizzy, the Moody Blues and Robert Fripp, gave the younger Visconti his first producing and composing assignments. At the ripe age of 16, Visconti engineered, produced and co-wrote a full-length album by the aforementioned Bonner. Though the first album was never released, Visconti said that the early experience was essential to his development as a musician.
He joins JSM's composing roster of Simon, founder/ composer Jon Silbermann, Alessi, Andy Bloch, Raymond Loewy, Gregg Mangiafico, Nile Rodgers, Krishna Venkatesh and Gareth Williams. Senior producer Victoria Villalobos reps the company.
