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The Legacy of John Williams (Website & Podcast)


TownerFan

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Again a fantastic interview Maurizio! Randy is such a great down-to-earth guy with such obvious love of the music of John Williams and music in general. I feel that these interviews are such important work, helping us to better assess and appreciate the legacy of Williams' music  and his influence through the lens of the people helping to bring it to life and giving us these intimate glimpses behind the music making that really speak volumes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's a lovely essay, Maurizio, and I am very sorry to quibble with such a tiny part of it, but no one considers Claude Thornhill "the grandfather of the big band sound."  If any single person can claim that I would say it's Fletcher Henderson with Duke Ellington and Bennie Moten right there behind him.  Thornhill was certainly important in developing a more sophisticated coloristic sound within the commercial dance band model that would go on to have a big influence on the "cool" jazz sound, but even there he was very much building on the Duke's signature sound on tunes like "Mood Indigo" and many others.  As early as 1932, the press was falling over themselves to compare Duke Ellington to Delius.

 

Just listen to something like 1939's "Subtle Lament," a true masterpiece, to hear a clear antecedent to the sound of "Snowfall"

 

 

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Thanks for the note, Disco Stu. What I meant was indeed Thornhill as the grandfather of a sophisticated jazz sound that was later picked up by people like Gil Evans and Nelson Riddle, not the big band sound in general which of course had other progenitors as you pointed out correctly. I will amend the piece to avoid confusion, so thank you for pointing this out 🙂

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On 25/02/2022 at 10:00 AM, TownerFan said:

 

https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2022/02/25/randy-kerber-podcast/

 

Randy is an amazing musician and a really nice guy. He shared a lot of anecdotes and insights, be sure to listen to the whole show :)

 

I never posted that I listened to this episode, and it was fantastic!  I had no idea Kerber had done his own composing and arranging work, and his stories about Williams showing up and looking at his Over The Rainbow arrangement and giving suggestions was really interesting.  The whole episode was really interesting!  Keep up the great work!

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Awesome can't wait to hear more about the making of one of my favorite scores.  I've got a good feeling that a 25th anniversary release for Amistad will happen this year!!! *crosses fingers*

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5 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

 I've got a good feeling that a 25th anniversary release for Amistad will happen this year!!! *crosses fingers*

I almost made a April Fools post about this being teased.

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On 01/04/2022 at 12:21 PM, TownerFan said:

 

https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2022/04/01/sally-stevens-podcast/

 

I hope you will enjoy this. Sally is a legend and a warm, kind person. Lots of interesting details on AMISTAD shared during the conversation.

 

Finally listened to this today - holy cow, it was great!  Sally was full of interesting stories, and boy does each new episode you do reveal how much impact the musicians available can have on the writing process.  Keep up the great work Maurizio!

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4 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

we’re going to have a couple of really terrific musician episodes and also a very special video feature that will “complete the trilogy” after London and Los Angeles…

Boston?

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20 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

Thank you everyone for your nice words of appreciation, it’s really sweet. I am glad that you like the show. And it’s very fun seeing some of you combing through every word out of Mike’s mouth when he’s on the show 🙂 But I agree that he’s always a joy to listen to,  knowledgeable, insightful and fun. 
 

Since you love guessing games, let me tell you that we’re going to have a couple of really terrific musician episodes and also a very special video feature that will “complete the trilogy” after London and Los Angeles…


These continue to be such wonderful listens, can’t wait for what’s next!

 

I hope you’ll be able to get Ramiro Belgardt onboard someday. It’d be great to hear about the nuts and bolts of JW’s daily process when it comes to timings and the music editing/dubbing process. 

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11 hours ago, TownerFan said:

Great interview! This episode presents another version of how John got involved with Kenobi. JoAnn says Kathleen Kennedy told a story about how she approached him to write a theme for Benny, not him approaching her.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 15/07/2022 at 12:03 PM, TownerFan said:

 

 

I forgot to post here that I finally had time to listen to this episode and boy, was it great!  It was really quite eye-opening to learn just how much harp parts there are in cue I never noticed, and how JW seems to use the harp more, or at least in more different ways, than a lot of other composers do.  Great stuff.

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13 hours ago, Jay said:

 

Well now you've done it, this part will now generate more posts here than the main content of the episode... :) 

Oh I've got something even better; both Amistad and CMIYC get more than a passing mention, both have anniversaries this year... the releases confirmed? ;)

 

Fantastic talk, especially loved the deep dive and comparison of emotional and family dynamics of CE3K and E.T.!

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