World On A String

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https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nvQ9ERRJqzvDh8BSbdH8SpkhyMI_SJKDc John Towner Williams and Co.   "World On A String: Music of Harold Arlen" ···· WORLD ON A STRING BY JOHN TOWNER WILLIAMS ···· As in the case of so many other highly skilled musicians, John Towner Williams chose not to take the night club glory-road to fame, but decided to accept the comparative obscurity but far greater security that is the lot of a Hollywood "studio" musician. Perhaps his marriage to beautiful Hollywood actress Barbara Ruick helped to influence his decision. But no matter what the reasons, he is a musician with something to say one who should be heard. For this reason, Bethlehem Records is proud to present John's introductory album, World On A String. Although still young (he was born in 1932 in Flushing, New York), John Williams has covered considerable mileage in the music world. It is highly possible that because of his father, being a professional musician he decided on music as a career. After early training in the East, he moved to Los Angeles, where he studied under Robert Van Eps. After a hitch in the Air Force, he returned to civilian life in 1955 to start his professional musical career in earnest. He quickly earned an impressive string of credits, which included working as a pianist for the Broadway musical production of Three For Tonight, and accompanying the conducting for both Howard Keel and Vic Damone. A classical background, as well as an impressive jazz feeling account for his popularity as both an arranger and pianist in West Coast musical circles. As a pianist, he now works for some of Hollywood's finest conductors — names such as Les Baxter, Jerry Fielding, Frank de Vol, Nelson Riddle and Leith Stevens. As an arranger, his credits include albums for Yvonne De Carlo, Dick Stabile, musical numbers for the Marge and Gower Champion television series and arrangements for many well known jazz groups. For this debut album, John has showcased the best tunes from the folio of one of the most prolific and talented of contemporary song writers, Harold Arlen. The tunes selected are familiar to all, and are treated in a manner which is fresh and imaginative. Unlike many musicians with jazz leanings, he has the ability to arrange and play a selection with true jazz feeling, yet present it in a manner understandable to all. He does not take away from, but adds to the feeling and mood of these numbers with his imaginative interpretations. This is a "finger-snappin'" album, with a swinging but never obtrusive beat. For maximum contrast, John used three different musical combinations: five trombones and three rhythm instruments, four saxophones and three rhythm and two saxophones with two trumpets and three rhythm. The musicians included in the groups were hand-selected, and among the best in the field. The music performed here is further evidence of their ability. It is hard to pick favorites from among the twelve selections included on this album, since all are of consistently high musical caliber, but mention should be made of Herb Geller's sax solos on both Old Black Magic and Over the Rainbow, Milt Bernhart's trombone on The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Gene Cipriano's relaxed and swinging sax chorus on World on a String and Francis Howard's moody trombone passage on Stormy Weather. ... and once you've listened, we feel you'll join us in a big hand for John Towner Williams pianist, arranger and leader. (album notes) ------- John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer and conductor. Over his seven-decade career, he has composed many of the best known scores in film history. His compositional style blends romanticism, impressionism, and atonal music with complex orchestration. Best known for his collaborations with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, he has received numerous accolades, including 27 Grammy Awards, ... . With a total of 54 Academy Award nominations, he is the second-most nominated person in the award's history, after Walt Disney. ... Williams's early work as a film composer includes None but the Brave (1965), Valley of the Dolls (1967), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), ... and The Towering Inferno (1974). He has collaborated with Spielberg since The Sugarland Express (1974), composing music for all but five of his feature films. He received five Academy Awards for Best Score/Best Score Adaptation for Fiddler on the Roof (1971; score adaptation of the original music by Jerry Bock), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Schindler's List (1993). Other memorable collaborations with Spielberg include Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the Indiana Jones franchise (1981–2023), Hook (1991), Jurassic Park (1993) and its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012), and The Fabelmans (2022). He also scored Superman (1978), ... Outside of his long-term collaborations with Spielberg and Lucas, Williams has composed the scores for films directed by William Wyler, Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, Brian De Palma, John Badham, George Miller, Oliver Stone, Chris Columbus, Ron Howard, Barry Levinson, John Singleton, ... . He has also composed numerous classical concertos and other works for orchestral ensembles and solo instruments. ... Other works by Williams include theme music for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games; NBC Sunday Night Football; "The Mission" theme (used by NBC News and Seven News in Australia); PBS's Great Performances and the television series Lost in Space, Land of the Giants and Amazing Stories. Williams received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2004, ... He has composed the scores for nine of the top 25 highest-grossing films at the U.S. box office. In 2022, Williams was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II, "for services to film music". In 2005, the American Film Institute placed Williams' score to Star Wars first on its list AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores; his scores for Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial also made the list. The Library of Congress entered the Star Wars soundtrack into the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Early life and education: Following his studies at the Juilliard School of Music and the Eastman School of Music, Williams moved back to Los Angeles, where he began working as an orchestrator at film studios. During this period, Williams worked with such composers as Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Newman, and with fellow orchestrators Conrad Salinger and Bob Franklyn. Williams was also a studio pianist and session musician, performing scores by Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein and Henry Mancini. One of his first jobs was working under mentor Alfred Newman with an uncredited orchestral role for Carousel (1956), which coincidentally starred his soon-to-be wife Barbara Ruick. With Mancini, he recorded the scores of Peter Gunn (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and Charade (1963), and played the piano part of the guitar-piano ostinato in Mancini's Peter Gunn title theme. With Elmer Bernstein, he performed the scores for Alexander Mackendrick's Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and Robert Mulligan's To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Williams was also the pianist of Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960), Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise's West Side Story (1961) and Blake Edwards's The Great Race (1966). He released several jazz albums under the name Johnny Williams, including Jazz Beginnings, World on a String and The John Towner Touch. Williams also served as music arranger and bandleader for a series of popular music albums alongside Ray Vasquez and Frankie Laine. ... -- Wikipedia ----------/ Great Instrumental Music Here's more: https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/search/ccc?query=Great%20Instrumental%20Music#search=2~list~0