From 1958 through 1966, Karlin worked in New York City, and composed and arranged for a number of jazz bands, including Benny Goodman (during which time he arranged the "Benny Goodman Plays The Sound of Music" LP), Harry James, Chubby Jackson, Bill Russo, and the Meg Welles Quintet. His jazz composition "Marching and Swinging" was one of the pieces selected to be included in the CD which accompanies the 1993 biography of Benny Goodman (Swing, Swing, Swing). During these years, he also composed and arranged for documentaries, the Radio City Music Hall orchestra, jazz and pop recordings, and television commercials. His interest in film scoring grew out of his film scoring experiences in writing music for commercials.
In 1962 he met Meg Welles, and became music director of her chamber jazz quintet, the Meg Welles Quintet. They were signed to Columbia records by John Hammond, and recorded three LP's for Columbia, produced by Frank Driggs. In 1963 they were married in New York City. In 1963 Karlin studied orchestration with Rayburn Wright, and in 1964 began studying conducting with Tibor Serly. He taught the jazz program at the summer Arrangers Workshop at the Eastman School of Music from 1960 through 1964. In 1967 he was asked by Alan J. Pukula and Robert Mulligan to score UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE. In 1969, after scoring his fourth film, THE STERILE CUCKOO, he and his family moved to Los Angeles. He has since scored over 30 motion pictures and more than one hundred television movies and miniseries.
In 1971 he received an Academy Award® for Best Song ("For All We Know" from LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS), and in 1974 an Emmy® for Best Score ("The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman"). In 1975 he received the NAACP Image Award for his score for the television film, "Minstrel Man." He also received a Grammy® nomination for Best Soundtrack Recording for his score for THE STERILE CUCKOO (featuring the music from his song "Come Saturday Morning") and a total of 4 Academy Award nominations and 11 Emmy nominations, the most recent being 1992's "Survive the Savage Sea." Meg has been nominated for two Oscars® (THE BABY MAKER and "Come Follow, Follow Me" from THE LITTLE ARK) and an Emmy ("Early in the Morning" from "Minstrel Man").
Karlin served on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1972 through 1975, and also the Board of the Composers and Lyricists Guild. He is currently a Trustee of the Film Music Society.
With his friend Rayburn Wright (who established the Media and Jazz programs at the Eastman School of Music) Karlin co-authored a textbook on the art and craft of film composition entitled On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring [Schirmer Books, 1990]. This text is used internationally as the comprehensive text on the subject of film scoring. His second book on film music entitled Listening to Movies: The Film Lover's Guide to Film Music, was published in June,1994 by Schirmer Books.
The re-creation of historical American Music was a special interest, and he worked on several projects in this area: Music Director/Arranger for "Mind, Medicine and Music," a 3-LP set in collaboration with his wife, Meg, for Goddard Lieberson's Legacy Series/Columbia Records; Music Director of "They Said It With Music," a one-hour CBS-TV special on American Music; and scores for films such as "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," "Minstrel Man," and "Leadbelly" (a motion picture directed by Gordon Parks based on the life of the famous folk singer/songwriter Huddie Ledbetter). He edited a choral series entitled "The Golden Eagle Songster" which features historical American choral works of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He also wrote and published the first reference book on Thomas Edison's Diamond Discs detailing and cataloging the thousands of phonograph recordings which the Edison Company manufactured and distributed from 1914 through 1929.
With Meg, he designed and created a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of all aspects of our national musical heritage, called the Historical Institute of American Music. With then president of Columbia Records Goddard Lieberson as President, Executive Director Karlin collaborated with Meg to create a series of historical re-creations that they presented at the United States Pavilion of the 1964 New York World's Fair, Lincoln Center, and on television. They were active with this organization for two years before Karlin began to prepare for a career in film scoring.
Nominated for Music (Best Song) 1969: THE STERILE CUCKOO "Come Saturday Morning" - Music
Nominated for Music (Best Original Song Score) 1970: THE BABY MAKER (w. Tylwyth Kymry)
Music (Best Song) 1970: LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS "For All We Know" - Music
Nominated for Music (Best Song) 1972: THE LITTLE ARK "Come Follow Me" - Music
4 nominations, 1 Award