Posted by Dave on July 09, 2001 at 16:36:34:
In Reply to: Re: What's yours? posted by Ken Sturgeon on July 08, 2001 at 20:47:50:
An amusing anecdote found on the web...
TOMMY DOES HOLLYWOOD - Studio tubist Tommy Johnson has recorded soundtracks for over 2000 movies since 1958. He received the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' Most Valuable Player Award for Tuba in 1974, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, and 1980. In 1981 he was awarded the NARAS "Emeritus Most Valuable Tuba Player," rendering him no longer eligible to receive the award. Johnson's film credits are endless, but he will always be associated with Jaws (1975), John Williams's grandest tuba gesture between Fitzwilly (1967) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Johnson relates an amusing anecdote concerning the first Jaws recording session. He was a junior high band director at the time and had an understanding with the school about taking time off for recording. On this particular day it was raining and the substitute teacher was late. After a major freeway snarl, Johnson arrived at the studio twenty minutes late, without warming up, opened the music, and lo, the opening bars to Spielberg's blockbuster! The first theme you hear on the soundtrack album (MCA 1660) is Johnson's soaring upper register solo, recorded on the first take. Don't miss it.