John Dickson

For over 30 years, John has been an active composer and arranger in the film and television industry in Los Angeles. He composed the main title and underscore for USA Network’s smash hit, Burn Notice and has written scores for many television series, TV movies, cable shows and films, including Miss Nobody, The Fall of Sam Axe, The Good Guys, and countless Sci-Fi features and shows. He is also a multiple ASCAP TV and Film Music award winner. More recently, he has been composing commissioned works for the concert stage.

John’s many collaborations with jazz legend Chick Corea, began in 1994 and reached their zenith in 2020 with their work together on Chick’s Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra. It was premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 2022 with Joseph Alessi as trombone soloist and with Dickson performing Chick’s piano part. That 24 minute work, composed by the late Chick Corea and orchestrated by John Dickson has now been performed around the world.

Dickson has also scored numerous national ads and trailers for clients including virtually all the major studios, Honda, GM, Mattel (yes, lots of Barbie!), and his compositions have appeared in The Oprah Winfrey Show, All My Children, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, The Today Show and many more. As an arranger and orchestrator, John has worked with many of the all-time greats including, Barbra Streisand, Elton John, Billy Joel, Liza Minelli, Johnny Mathis, The Temptations, etc. As a performer, he has appeared on horn, piano or vocals with artists ranging from Alanis Morissette, Harry Connick Jr., “Weird” Al Yankovic, Shirley Horn, and Mick Fleetwood to the New York Philharmonic and the Nashville Symphony. He has also performed on dozens of film scores, TV shows and commercial recordings.

He is a member of SAG-AFTRA, the RMA, AFM, ASCAP the Society of Composers and Lyricists and The International Horn Society.

Thomas Bacon
General Editor
The Modern Hornist