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JW playing Luke & Leia on Piano


GRIGA01

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I think I've seen the interview in question. Williams did a few with that wacky Gene Shalit (still alive at 93!), where he hovers over the piano while JW plays.

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8 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

This comes from a double LP set distributed to radio stations as a pre-Oscar Ceremony program. Over the course of two hours Gene Shalit talks a lot about classic Hollywood and its stars, having Williams and Spielberg as the special guests of the program.

 

Thanks for the clarification. As I said, there are several Shalit/Williams interviews out there. Here's one on Youtube, for example, set in a restaurant:

 

 

And here's one with the piano that I remembered:

 

 

He's such a wacky type, that Shalit. Sometimes his questions are fine, sometimes they're just stupid.

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3 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Thanks for the clarification. As I said, there are several Shalit/Williams interviews out there. Here's one on Youtube, for example, set in a restaurant:

 

 

And here's one with the piano that I remembered:

 

 

He's such a wacky type, that Shalit. Sometimes his questions are fine, sometimes they're just stupid.

 

The first video comes from a Boston Pops special from 1997. The second is earlier, of course, promoting The Accidental Tourist.

The questions aren't necessarily stupid, they are meant for a kind of less educated public, I guess.

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My favorite theme of his. Seeing him conduct it always gets me emotional, and the statement of it in TLJ will never fail to give me chills. How amazing to hear him play it himself. Thank you for sharing this!!

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On 8/26/2019 at 11:12 AM, GRIGA01 said:

Hey guys,

 

Just found this this little gem of John playing the Luke and Leia theme after what sounds like an interview in the 80s. Not sure if it’s been posted before but if not then I hope you enjoy :) 

 

 

 

Big thank you to @Falstaft for putting this on YouTube! I had zero idea this existed.

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8 hours ago, rpvee said:

This makes me wonder - how incredible would an album of just Williams, his themes, and a piano be? Just him playing his themes alone as he hears them in his head. Nothing fancy, but these iconic themes being played by the man himself. That would be an incredible album. He could record it in a day!

 

He could even record it in an hour !

Just a simple video of him playing anything he wants and I'd be in heaven :D

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Oh, there are plenty of videos around of him playing. But like rpvee, I'd also love to have a new piano album by him where he embelishes on his famous (and not-so-famous) themes. One can only dream.

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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Here you go!

 

 

 

Oh I know that one of course !

I meant it'd be cool to see like an hour-long or so video of him today, playing anything he wants :)

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On 8/27/2019 at 4:06 PM, Jurassic Shark said:

Waiting for someone to transcribe the piano arrangement and then complete it in the same style.

This is more George Winston than jazz standard, but I still think it’s lovely: http://web.media.mit.edu/~mike/music/hawleyconcert-1986/mp3/07-Improv from Wonka.mp3

 

From this page: http://web.media.mit.edu/~mike/music/

 

16 hours ago, rpvee said:

This makes me wonder - how incredible would an album of just Williams, his themes, and a piano be? Just him playing his themes alone as he hears them in his head. Nothing fancy, but these iconic themes being played by the man himself. That would be an incredible album. He could record it in a day!

 

Absolutely love this. Reminds me of this video: https://www.nbcnews.com/video/john-williams-plays-brian-a-special-tune-44467779920

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God I love listening to Williams playing his work on piano. As much as I love playing the instrument, I really don't buy many piano-only albums...but I've often thought that such an album of Williams riffing on his own work at the piano would be incredible. Instant purchase.

 

My contribution to the thread is not a new one; I discovered this through JWfan. But in the interest of making this a one-stop shop for Williams on the piano...

 

 

There's also a stretch of footage around the 32-minute mark playing some sort of operatic accompaniment; I don't know the piece but it's obviously not his. Then you've got more Empire piano starting around the 48-minute mark. Really the only footage I've ever seen of Williams actually in the writing process.

 

Also discovered through JWfan years ago:

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Datameister said:

There's also a stretch of footage around the 32-minute mark playing some sort of operatic accompaniment; I don't know the piece but it's obviously not his.

 

It's a piece from Ravel. 

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, Datameister said:

 you've got more Empire piano starting around the 48-minute mark. Really the only footage I've ever seen of Williams actually in the writing process.

 

You reminded me! There's a Return  of the Jedi documentary feature that shows him writing what sounds like Forest Battle. Let me see if I can find it.

Crap I can't find it on YouTube : (

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7 hours ago, Nick Parker said:

Yo I found it! Nowhere near in depth as the Empire Strikes Back documentary, as you might imagine (it even cribs from that one!). This is more of a news profile, but here's a brief little glimpse.

 

 

 

 

Dat was epic.

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5 hours ago, Nick Parker said:

Like I said, it sounds to me to be one of the buildup phrases in Forest Battle, somewhere either halfway or in the end. I _know_ I've heard it in the score somewhere.

 

I'm having a hard time myself placing the exact moment in ROTJ that this riff occurs. It's got the right octatonic vibe for the Forest/Ewok battle, but the key doesn't work as far as I can tell. Most of the octatonic material in the Forest Battle is grounded firmly on D-octatonic, the version of the scale that goes D-E-F-G-Gb, whereas this is based on E-octatonic (with F#).

 

Maybe it's not even melodic -- could be an inner line for some action cue. Gotta keep hunting...

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1 hour ago, Falstaft said:

 

I'm having a hard time myself placing the exact moment in ROTJ that this riff occurs. It's got the right octatonic vibe for the Forest/Ewok battle, but the key doesn't work as far as I can tell. Most of the octatonic material in the Forest Battle is grounded firmly on D-octatonic, the version of the scale that goes D-E-F-G-Gb, whereas this is based on E-octatonic (with F#).

 

Maybe it's not even melodic -- could be an inner line for some action cue. Gotta keep hunting...

 

Right, I was thinking one of the jollier moments, with the goofy chromaticism happening there.

 

There's no possibility it's from Temple of Doom, is there?

 

 

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Well he's talking about scoring the sequel to Raiders for Spielberg before playing it, that can't be any indication, can it?

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8 minutes ago, Holko said:

Well he's talking about scoring the sequel to Raiders for Spielberg before playing it, that can't be any indication, can it?

 

That's why I suggested it, but it could just be a general factoid this dude threw in just to make sure he didn't leave any possible room for Williams' working to scare audiences with its weird lack of vocals and its focus on instrumentals.

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