Biography
Born to a jazz musician, Banks took up trombone, saxophone, violin, guitar and piano during his youth while performing in his father’s ensembles. He went on to pursue composition studies at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium and later with Babbitt in Salzburg. In the 1950s he adopted serial techniques built on a fourteen-note row, producing works such as Duo. To sustain these efforts he worked as a copyist and arranger, eventually turning to film-score composition and accepting commissions from a range of performers. A surge of new pieces arrived in the late 1960s, revealing the lasting imprint of his early encounters with jazz and soul. Convinced that his own privileges should benefit younger musicians, Banks devoted himself to teaching, most notably assuming leadership of composition and electronic music at Canberra School of Music in 1974.
Singles
