Happy 90th Birthday John Williams! The Official Nonagenarian Thread

[Bespin 8,475]

I just recalled that my first contact with JW's scores where with this two audiobooks (in french!).

 

I listened to them a long time before I could actually saw the movies on TV, because I was too young!!!

 

Incredible!!!

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

3 minutes ago, Bespin said:

I just recalled that my first contact with JW's scores where with this two audiobooks (in french!), even before the movies (because I was a child at the time).

 

Guardians of the Toilets?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Wintory pays his respects

 

(Williams discussion proper doesn’t start until 9:50)

 

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

Very cool of Wintory to start out with The Globetrotters.

[artguy360 1,843]

I just want to share one great JW moment:

 

I think this interview response from JW is the most he has ever un-shyly shared his great natural instincts for melody. Even with all the hard work and iteration JW has talked about before when writing his themes, here he does speak to his own amazing melodic instincts at 6:13, sorry I don't know how to timestamp the video on the YouTube app.

 

 

[BB-8 3,461]

On 11/02/2022 at 7:16 PM, Bespin said:

I just recalled that my first contact with JW's scores where with this two audiobooks (in french!).

 

I listened to them a long time before I could actually saw the movies on TV, because I was too young!!!

 

Incredible!!!

I had those in English - they were ridiculously short. Even as  a child, I preferred the epic Williams score without the distraction from the narrator.

[Joe Brausam 214]

On 08/02/2022 at 6:11 PM, Jay said:

Here is a picture of a time a bunch of JWFanners attended a John Williams concert in Boston, Massachusetts, at Symphony Hall, in the summer of 2013

 

 

That's me on the far right holding the booklet to the first soundtrack album I ever bought.  On the left you can see @#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal, @JWfangirl1992, @josefsuma, @Damien F, and @Joe Brausam

 

Steef got his Phantom Menace LP signed that evening

 

 

 

That was a fun night!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

On 11/2/22 at 9:02 PM, Disco Stu said:

Wintory pays his respects

 

(Williams discussion proper doesn’t start until 9:50)

 

 

Part 2 is up

 

 

[artguy360 1,843]

2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Part 2 is up

 

 

This is great! It's like a surprise JW podcast. I love listening to people who know what they're talking about talk about JW music.

[igger6 894]

Happy Star Wars Day! I just realized that scoring Star Wars now officially marks the exact midpoint of Williams’ life!!

[BB-8 3,461]

Two days to go...

[Thor 7,463]

If people are feeling the blues a bit, about Williams getting so old, let me up your spirits by posting some composers still around that are older than him. Most of them retired, some still active. This is from a thread I have over on FSM. Compared to these, Williams has many more years to go!

Born 1932:

Lalo Schifrin -- retired?
John Williams -- still active
Per Nørgaard -- retired?
Rodion Shchedrin -- retired?

Born 1931:

Giacomo dell'Orso - retired

Born 1930:

John Scott -- still active?
Clint Eastwood -- still active
David Amram -- still active

Born 1929:

Stu Phillips -- retired?
Michio Mamiya -- retired?
Doug Goodwin -- retired

Born 1928:

Charles Strouse -- retired?
Richard M. Sherman -- retired?
George Dreyfus -- retired?
Ted Nichols - retired?

Born 1927:

Gerhard Heinz -- retired?
Martial Solal -- retired?
Dick Hyman -- still active
John Kander -- still active?

Born 1926:

Laurence Rosenthal -- still active
Aleksandr Zatsepin -- retired
Philip Springer -- retired

Born 1925:

??

Born 1924:

??

Born 1923:

Johnny Pate -- retired

Born 1922 or earlier:

Ray Anthony (b. 1922) -- not a composer, but played on many soundtracks.
Elisabeth Waldo (b. 1918) -- not a film composer, strictly speaking, but did a couple of scores

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

Didn't know that Rosenthal was still active, that's impressing

[Thor 7,463]

8 hours ago, Raiders of the SoundtrArk said:

Didn't know that Rosenthal was still active, that's impressing

 

Sure is. Not only did he work on the recent Ghent recording, he also travelled to Belgium to receive his lifetime achievement award last year. He looks surprisingly sprightly for a man who's almost 100.

[Edmilson 7,384]

I said to my mom a few days ago that it was John Williams's birthday. Her first response was "who?", but then she thought it was that guy who died a few years ago (she was thinking of James Horner).

 

Then, I decided to put some John Williams music on - if she didn't know the name, she'd surely recognize his music right? Problem is, when I said "Alexa, play John Williams", instead of playing, I dunno, the Star Wars theme, the Raiders March or Harry's Wondrous World or whatever, it played this:

 

 

Not a bad piece... But also, not quite the most John Williams-like piece  I imagine it was Alexa looking at my IP address and imagining I was looking for a more Brazilian piece.