L.A. STUDIO LEGENDS - THE REUNION Video Event

[TownerFan 4,983]

 

 

Coming December 23 at The Legacy of John Williams, an exclusive video event with the great Los Angeles studio musicians reuniting for the first time in years to celebrate John Williams.

 

https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2021/12/16/announcing-la-studio-legends/

 

 

This is going to be very special. I hope you will tune in to watch this

[Jay 37,322]

Wow, amazing!

[bollemanneke 3,338]

I'll have to watch it a few days later, but my God, I can't believe how you continue to do these great things.

[mahler3 478]

Isn’t this trailer fantastic?! Great job, MC!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

What is clear is that a lot of people were just waiting for something like The Legacy series to come along, a reason to talk about their experiences with an extraordinary man, and it just took a person with the passion and energy to bring it all together.  Thank you, Maurizio, your work is a gift to all JWFans!

[bruce marshall 1,315]

I really enjoyed the previous editions.

Great news!

[Smeltington 1,436]

This is gonna be good!! Merry Christmas to all JWFans!

[TownerFan 4,983]

Thanks everyone for the nice words! Consider it our Christmas gift to the fans

 

FYI, the event will premiere Dec 23 at 8PM GMT / 3PM EST / 12PM PST at this link (and also mirrored on the Legacy of JW website). Of course it will remain available at any moment at the same link right after the premiere. Tim and I will be available in the live chat during the broadcast. We hope you will join us!

 

 

[GerateWohl 4,343]

The trailer is awesome.

I am really looking forward to this.

 

[Tydirium 1,166]

.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

His website spells it with one

[Tydirium 1,166]

Never mind, not sure why I thought that. I'm dumb.

[TownerFan 4,983]

We’re going live in less than 30 minutes! I’ll be online at the YouTube chat if you want to jump in asking questions.

[bollemanneke 3,338]

Oh, it was today! I was convinced it was going to be on the 25th. Oh well, no time tomorrow anyway. Christmas carols and Home Alone come first.

[Ricard 2,244]

Thank you for this, Maurizio, it was great!

[Antonb 118]

Amazing conversation, what a lovely bunch of people.  Loved every minute , thankyou very much for putting this together. A brilliant early Christmas Present.

[Tom 4,640]

For whatever reason, Journey to the Island sounded especially dynamic and brilliant in the clip.  I like how the other instrumentalists were in awe of the performance.

 

Excellent work to all involved.    

[Bespin 8,480]

I'm currently downloading it!

[GerateWohl 4,343]

It was really great. I had to leave the show at about 22:30. But I really enjoyed the part, I watched.

 

[crumbs 14,305]

Congratulations on this video @TownerFan and @mahler3, made for excellent Christmas Eve viewing!

 

So many details to unpack, but two stand out. Firstly, I had no idea Williams' The Reivers was a replacement score (for Lalo Schifrin of all composers!)

 

Secondly, that Williams never instructs his flutists on how to perform their solos (but, amusingly, is more than happy to demonstrate piano solos to his pianists ).

 

Love that you're talking with Gloria Cheng and Randy Kerber, it would be amazing to get some perspective from the "current" generation of musicians whose collabs with JW are ongoing (and hopefully upcoming with Indy 5 and Fabelmans sessions!)

[Steve 590]

Thanks a lot for your great work, @TownerFanand @mahler3

I appreciate your work a lot and enjoy every episode of your podcast.

[TownerFan 4,983]

Thank you everyone for your kind words! I am glad you're all enjoying it. This was a particular joy to put together. It was a lot of work, but absolutely worth the effort. Those musicians are really heroes and their playing has inspired now at least an entire generation of younger musicians. And they're all incrediblly warm, kind and fun human beings.

[Amer 2,080]

Wonderful reunion. It was so cool to see Trumpet champ Malcom McNab. Some wonderful stories from everyone here.  

 

Thank You Maurizio and Tim for this great celeberation here. 

[MrJosh 892]

Thank you @TownerFan& @mahler3 for such a wonderful conversation between you and the musicians. Loved hearing their stories and seeing their excitement they have for what they do and of course their memories of John Williams. 

 

I love seeing their sense of humor and getting to put more faces with the sounds I'm hearing when I hear them playing. 

[Omen II 1,235]

I finally had the chance to watch this discussion today and the two hours flew by.  It was really great!

 

It was nice to hear Louise's comment towards the end about how so many musicians are inspired by their fathers.  My Dad was never a professional musician but there was always music in the house.  I credit to my parents a large part of my own love of music.

[crumbs 14,305]

You could tell they all become more relaxed and convivial as the conversation continued (reminds me of when you catch up with old friends, sometimes it takes a while until the old chemistry clicks back into place). 

 

I was genuinely sad when it ended after two hours! Could have listened to their anecdotes for hours longer.

[karelm 2,903]

I played next to Jim Self in a symphony orchestra concert.  He was such a sweet man with a gentle and modest spirit.  I loved talking to him about Close Encounters and other projects in between rehearsal minutes but was so much fun just performing next to him.  I think we were playing Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliett or Mussorgsky/Ravel's Pictures at an Exhibition?  I can't remember which piece it was but both with massive heavy brass moments with that orchestra.  He frequently mentioned Tommy Johnson as did John Van Houten (another studio tuba player).  Tommy's legacy is far and wide as he taught so many of the new players who in turn are teaching the current players.  Though I'm not a tuba (I'm a bass trombonist), I joined Van Houten's tuba studio one afternoon with maybe 9 tubas, and me.  Many of them were advanced high school students and it was a wonderful experience.  Sort of the closest I got to studying under Tommy Johnson by being in a tuba class with his student.  Most of these people are also concert performers.  Jim Self and Jim Thatcher are both in local concert orchestras.  I'm sure the others are as well.  By the way, I attended all the rehearsals with Jim Thatcher on JW's Horn Concerto when it was performed by USC Symphony in 2008.  He was very stressed by performing it and found it quite difficult but performed it brilliantly.  I so wish that concert was recorded.  It was AMAZING!!!!

[TownerFan 4,983]

Jim is a terrific musician and the sweetest soul. But all of them are, really. They're incredibly humble as much as they're talented. And yes, the "passing of the torch" from one generation to the next is truly felt by all of them.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

"Oh, I'm just putting the last nail on Jim Thatcher's coffin"  John

[MrJosh 892]

23 hours ago, Sibelius6 said:

"Oh, I'm just putting the last nail on Jim Thatcher's coffin"  John

Great nugget of insight into JW sense of humor. 

[Jay 37,322]

I didn't watch/listen to this right when it came out, because I wanted to set aside time to watch it on video instead of listen as a podcast.  That opportunity never presented itself, so eventually the other weekend I finally listened to it in audio-only form

 

Holy cow, even without the video, what a treat this is!  The amount of interesting stories was seemingly never-ending, by the end it felt like everybody had more stories on the tip of their tongue they could have launched right into if there was more time.

 

Someone should collect all these guys stories and publish a book showcasing what it's like to be an Hollywood orchestra musician, it'd be really interesting.

 

Great work here as always Maurizio, keep the hits coming!

[TownerFan 4,983]

Thank you for the nice words, Jay.

 

Yes, there is a wealth of material that is worth a book or two about studio musicians.

[Jay 37,322]

The stories especially about musicians "passing the torch" from the old pros to the up and comers was really great. 

 

But also the insight it provided into Williams' process was fascinating. I forget the exact piece it was - Over the Moon from ET I think - that seems like it was only written because JW knew Ralph Grierson (if I have the right piece) was going to be a ailable that day. Pretty cool

[Jay 37,322]

I just want to say again how much I enjoyed this conversation, and hope lots of people check it out!