James L. Venable ("Jim") has proven himself to be an exceptionally diverse composer. With feature films ranging from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, directed by Kevin Smith to The Powerpuff Girls Movie, he has had opportunity to explore many styles of writing. He has been given excellent reviews in regard to his ethnic scores such as Samurai Jack and director Yuen Woo Ping's Iron Monkey and had opportunities in Jay and Silent Bob to pay homage to some of his favorite composers. He has created a unique blend of classic film score writing and deeply textured techno that truly defines his own sound for a film.
In animation, Jim is best known for scoring The Powerpuff Girls series on Cartoon Network, for which he won an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music. Also an opportunity for diversity, the over 500 minutes of score written for the show includes a little bit of everything from classical to hip hop to heavy metal. You can check out some of that score mixed into dance music on The City of Soundsville CD on Rhino Records. He is also responsible for the music on the acclaimed series Samurai Jack on Cartoon Network, Teenage Robot for Nickelodeon and Clone Wars for Cartoon Network. Jim is currently scoring Craig McCracken's latest creation "The Fosters" animated series.
Jim has a Bachelor's Degree in Music from Cal State Long Beach (as a Percussion Major) but really credits his composing style and ability to Lyle Spud Murphy's 12 volume EIS course which he completed over six years. He also studied composition and arranging with Jack Smalley and studied drums with John "Terry" Tirabasso.
Jim has also written scores for Clerks the Cartoon, 3 South (MTV), The Chimp Channel, Salty's Lighthouse, Entertainment Tonight, and Hard Copy.