New Forbes interview with Mike Matessino about John Williams' career

[Jay 39,429]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrynking/2023/07/31/a-farewell-to-john-williams-the-maestro-of-the-movies

[Leia Sees Ghosts 274]

This is the worst title anyone could possibly pick for an article about John Williams. Almost had a fucking heart attack.

[Damien F 1,773]

Absolutely horrible title.

[Jay 39,429]

Hopefully that title was something Forbes corporate put on there, and not the author's decision.

 

Any commentary on the actual article?

[Bellosh 3,912]

clickbait motherfuckers.

 

 

[Edmilson 8,920]

Quote

If one looks at the earliest feature films John Williams scored, you see some fairly prominent director names that today are mostly known only among cinephiles — Frank Tashlin, Andrew McLaglen — and then Frank Sinatra, for whom John scored the only movie the actor/singer directed, “None But the Brave.”

I didn't know JW had scored a movie directed by Sinatra! What did Williams say about the experience of working with him?

[Yavar Moradi 2,990]

6 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

I didn't know JW had scored a movie directed by Sinatra!

 

Oh man, you need to get it. One of my favorite 60s scores by Williams and the FSM release is still available from Screen Archives!

https://filmscoremonthly.com/cds/detail.cfm/CDID/423/None-But-the-Brave/

 

Check out the sound clips. Great main theme. And check out Williams performing his own theme in the piano demo track:

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/store/MP3/1212/19_Piano_Theme.mp3

 

Just gorgeous, quintessential Williams.

 

Yavar

[Alex 2,887]

This interview really left me wanting more. It’s always interesting reading/listening to Mike.

[KittBash 294]

12 minutes ago, Alex said:

This interview really left me wanting more. It’s always interesting reading/listening to Mike.

 

Agreed, it almost feels like they took very specific parts from a more comprehensive discussion. 

That said always love hearing from Mike! 

[Jay 39,429]

Yeah I was shocked how short it was! It felt like it was just getting started, then it was over! 

[Andy 5,152]

So his career started with How to Steal a Million and ended with Images before his untimely passing at age 40?  Interesting article. 

[Tom 5,137]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Yeah I was shocked how short it was! It felt like it was just getting started, then it was over! 

Are you stealing lines from my wife now?   

[Jay 39,429]

[crumbs 14,870]

What the, why is this interview so short? Feels like an excerpt or something.

[Davis 2,895]

Maybe Mike’s doing an expansion. 

[artguy360 1,899]

The article is very short and just seems to end abruptly. Feels like 1/3rd of a decent interview about JW. Thankfully Mike has shared a lot more in other interviews over the years, especially with the fabulous Legacy of John Williams podcast. This interview is like half an appetizer.

[rough cut 1,742]

Did they forget to post the full article?

[Tallguy 4,417]

It's so short because Mike started going into details about both the Star Wars AND Indiana Jones expansions he's working on. 

[GerateWohl 5,040]

10 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I didn't know JW had scored a movie directed by Sinatra! What did Williams say about the experience of working with him?

In the liner notes of the album there is a quote from Williams:

"I've known him for quite some time and I composed the score for the only film he himself personally directed, None but the Brave, a second world war story, a good action film. He couldn't have been nicer, more considerate, more appreciative. Since then I've seen him from time to time and even conducted for him[...] I know you can hear, that he has a reputation for being difficult, but... I never had anything but the most wonderful and gracious connection with him. I think Frank is good with musicians; he appreciates people who do music."

[Davis 2,895]

Of course he would say that, he didn’t want to be buried in the desert. 

[Tallguy 4,417]

So Williams continues to be the nicest fellow in Hollywood, right?

[karelm 3,076]

Eheheh....Williams calls movie theaters "the cineplex".   He probably calls iphones "telecommunication devices" and cars are "horseless carriages".    I will confess to not knowing any of his 60's scores but loving his 50's jazzy albums.  I know and love his tv scores like Lost in Space but there is much to discover from his early career.  

[MikeH 787]

That f****** title 

[Marian Schedenig 9,042]

1 hour ago, MikeH said:

That f****** title 

 

"That F****** Title and Prologue"

[MikeH 787]

3 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

"That F****** Title and Prologue"

That should be the title of the new book!

[Marian Schedenig 9,042]

Or at least of the first chapter.

[Miguel Andrade 1,361]

On 02/08/2023 at 11:49 AM, GerateWohl said:

In the liner notes of the album there is a quote from Williams:

"I've known him for quite some time and I composed the score for the only film he himself personally directed, None but the Brave, a second world war story, a good action film. He couldn't have been nicer, more considerate, more appreciative. Since then I've seen him from time to time and even conducted for him[...] I know you can hear, that he has a reputation for being difficult, but... I never had anything but the most wonderful and gracious connection with him. I think Frank is good with musicians; he appreciates people who do music."

 

Williams also played in some tracks of Sinatra's 1958 album "Only the Lonely". Later on, Williams did conduct for him members of the New York Philharmonic on a special gala in the early 80's.

[SpotTheDog 39]

On 01/08/2023 at 9:10 PM, Tom said:

Are you stealing lines from my wife now?   

Not from his wife, you don't!

[ThePenitentMan1 1,017]

"What would your concert pieces sound like if you weren't a film composer?"

 

"Just... Images, really.  Feelings."

[Brónach 1,306]

Images lol

[GerateWohl 5,040]

Yes, and always with the same vocallist.

[bollemanneke 3,593]

1. Title SUCKS.

2. Article too short.

3. Any MM interview is great.

4. Jane Eyre expanded confirmed.

5. More MM podcast appearances required.

[Jay 39,429]

This Forbes article is by the same author as this New York Times article, so I assume he interviewed Mike for that, then later decided to publish his entire interview with Mike in Forbes.

 

NYT: 

With moments of comedy and tongue-in-cheek suspense, that score was an early clue of “just how versatile John Williams could be,” said Mike Matessino, a producer of numerous Williams soundtracks.

 

Forbes:

I once asked Ian Fraser, who worked with Williams on “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” a couple years later, if had any sense on that project of just how great a composer Williams would become, and he said, “I knew it when I went to the sessions for ‘How to Steal a Million,’” as Fraser was at 20th at that time working on ‘Doctor Dolittle.’ The “Million” score is a mixture of comedic elements and some terrific half-tongue-in-cheek suspense writing that showed just how versatile John Williams could be. It’s also significant in that it is the first time he was given the opportunity to completely re-record music from the film for his own soundtrack album, so it really was a significant career milestone.

 

It's like getting the expanded reissue of the original presentation

[Thor 8,353]

On 04/08/2023 at 8:39 PM, Jay said:

Forbes:

I once asked Ian Fraser, who worked with Williams on “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” a couple years later, if had any sense on that project of just how great a composer Williams would become, and he said, “I knew it when I went to the sessions for ‘How to Steal a Million,’” as Fraser was at 20th at that time working on ‘Doctor Dolittle.’ The “Million” score is a mixture of comedic elements and some terrific half-tongue-in-cheek suspense writing that showed just how versatile John Williams could be. It’s also significant in that it is the first time he was given the opportunity to completely re-record music from the film for his own soundtrack album, so it really was a significant career milestone.

 

It's like getting the expanded reissue of the original presentation

 

I'm a little curious about this statement. I can understand he's talking about films and not TV shows like CHECKMATE or M SQUAD, but how would one define DIAMOND HEAD? Is it Hugo Winterhalter's theme song (which Williams uses extensively throughout) that "disqualifies" it from being the first film score he was able to completely rerecord for album?

[Richard P 4,189]

Am I the only one who really doesn't see any significant value in asking someone like MM to describe the 'importance' of the most signficant director/composer relationship? (i.e. everyone knows about it)

 

It's a classic backslap-fishing exercise because no one in their right mind, when asked about any professional relationship is going to say anything negative, and they're definitely not going to discuss John Williams in any fewer terms than the greatest ever film composer because that's populism.

 

I echo the above - more podcast appearances to discuss his restoration work in detail is far more useful and interesting than this stuff.