I was ten when Star Wars changed the world in 1977. This film was special to me for multiple reasons. It was a movie my Dad and I went to see, just us: two blokes going to a real he-man film with violence, monsters, spaceships, aliens, villains, heroes, a damsel in distress, and droids: all cavorting around galaxies galore. Moreover, it was decreed that I was old enough to take a friend to see a matinee of the film without an adult escort! There was a movie house the next town over that showed matinees at half-price, so off we went to see my new favorite film again, and again, and again (just keep repeating that about a dozen more times). All in all, I saw the movie ten times in the space of one month and a half-dozen more in the next. I cheered Han Solo and Chewbacca, booed Darth Vader, fell madly in love with Princess Leia, thought the only cool thing about Luke Skywalker was his name, endured C-3PO, and adored R2-D2. It’s still my favorite despite the seventeen hundred or so follow-ups, adaptations, and retreads. To this day, I refuse to call it by its revised name: Star Wars IV: A New Hope.
The movie’s biggest impact on me as an adult is the music, masterly crafted by John Williams. One can thrill to the anthem-like “Star Wars Main Theme,” swoon at Princess Leia’s motif, jive to “Cantina Band,” hide behind the couch during “The Imperial March” (Darth Vader’s Theme) and thank the genius of John Williams for making the film come alive.
At the time of this writing, Mr. Williams is 93 years old and still going strong. He was born in Flushing, NY, in 1932 to parents with a long musical heritage. His father, known as Johnny Williams, was a jazz drummer and percussionist who played in the CBS radio orchestra, had a long association with Raymond Scott, and was a first-call sub for the Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras. Look up Vocalion 5077 from 1939 to hear Johnny Williams and His Boys (among them Russ Case, Buddy Morrow, and Hank Ross) play “Milenberg Joys!”
In 1954, Williams himself began his post-military career (he was in the Air Force) as a jazz pianist in NYC. By the late 1950s and early 1960s he was in CA as studio pianist for memorable and diverse films such as Some Like It Hot, West Side Story, and To Kill A Mockingbird.
It was in the late 1960s that Williams turned his mind and pen to composing for films, and quickly became known as the “disaster guy” for his ability to write dramatic music to accompany blockbuster films including The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). History was made when fledgling director Steven Spielberg had the temerity to ask this already honored and respected veteran of film music to write the score for 1974’s The Sugarland Express. Over the years, this was followed by more scores for scores of Spielberg films: Jaws (1975), [N.B.: YOU can play the theme song to this film even with less effort than it takes to play “Chopsticks!” Simply play the lowest E and F on the piano, starting out verrrrryy slowly, then gradually speeding up until the you feel the teeth on your leg!] Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977…the same year he composed the score for Star Wars…!!!…), E.T. (1982), the first two Jurassic Park movies (1993, 1997), Schindler’s List (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998), the entire Indiana Jones series (1981, 1984, 1989, 2008, 2023) and seemingly countless more huge film hits. None of these would have been as successful, funny, scary, or moving without John Williams’ musical themes.
WHY John Williams is so special to me
Now that I’ve outlined my research on the background and accomplishments of this amazing composer and man, I’ll share two specific observations about him. The first is John Williams showcases his background in jazz in many of his film scores. For instance, 1973’s The Long Goodbye contains a theme that is played myriad ways, from a version with John Williams himself as piano soloist to one by the Dave Grusin Trio to a rendition played and sung by the late, great trumpeter/vocalist Jack Sheldon. A wacky jazz-hybrid can be heard in William’s stylistic mashup called “The Knight Bus” from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He wrote a score for Hook (1991) that included a hot modern-jazz composition called “Banning Back Home.”
Williams is not above using other composers’ themes to enhance his score. From 1995’s film Sabrina, we can hear his sumptuous arrangements of jazz standards in a medley called “The Party Sequence” that includes “When Joanna Loved Me,” “The Shadow of Your Smile,” “Call Me Irresponsible,” and “Stella By Starlight.”
But it doesn’t stop there! From the score of Tintin (2011) Williams’ opening theme and “The Milanese Nightingale” have strong jazz elements; the latter sounds as if you’re in a Parisian café in the 1930s.
As I was growing up, I had an obsession with “Cantina Band” from the 1977 film that started the Star Wars empire. One of the jazziest of Williams’ pieces, it’s under three minutes long and stylistically covers virtually every era beloved by subscribers of this publication. It’s even structured like a rag! The 32-bar A section in Dm is a ragtime theme in 2/4 with two parts both featuring homophonic soprano and alto saxes. This leads into a swinging B-theme in F featuring walking (actually running) spacy-sounding electric bass, steel drums, chalumeau clarinet, and then a muted trumpet growling Bubber-Miley-style! A return to sections A and B and then to a new swing section (let’s call it “C”), given again to the steel drummer, who plays the melody the first time through and then wildly improvises over a saxophone countermelody on the second chorus. All of this has gone back and forth between Dm and the closely-related key of F. But now we orbit into Db for the swingiest section of all, tutti saxes and steel drum executing an intricate line. This D section is 14 bars long, taking us to a two-part dogfight. The first part of said is 6 bars showcasing a riff; the second part is an 8-bar chromatically rising motif that reminds me of Duke Ellington’s “Daybreak Express,” and we land on an 8-bar duet a la Goodman and Krupa. The raggy A-section returns and we fade to close. In this one tune, Williams illustrates 50 years of ragtime and jazz. WOW!!
And THEN I found that Williams had composed a “Cantina Band 2” for the rerelease of Star Wars and it swings even harder! I don’t have the space to outline it, but simply Google “Star Wars Cantina Band 2” and you’ll get there. It’s straight-ahead swing with even more Goodman-like clarinet riffs.
A Beautiful Moment and a Fun Surprise
As you’ve seen, there’s more than enough jazz material by John Williams to warrant his inclusion in this column. However, a short video with an inspiring ending really made me realize what an amazing, generous man he is. Put his incredibly fecund and prolific compositional and arranging gifts aside, and what are you left with? As this video shows, a humble, grateful man whose curiosity keeps him young and whose encouragement has changed the lives of so many people who have encountered him and/or his music.
If you are reading the print version of this publication, please remember your subscription automatically grants you entrance to the online version, where you’ll find links to both “Cantina Band” and the charming moment I describe above, as well as many of the musical examples I shared above. If you aren’t able or don’t wish to engage in the online version, simply Google “Cantina Band, John Williams” and click on the first video that pops up. It’ll be him conducting his own piece, so you know it’s the best version. To experience the video I allude to above where two young lads play their horns in front of Williams’ house, type “horns in front of John Williams’ home” into Google and the second or third video will be the one you want (on YouTube). Make sure the sound is up. AND be sure to watch to the end.
Finally, two of my dear friends, ragtime pianists Martin Spitznagel and Bryan Wright, NAIL “Cantina Band” and have garnered over 3.2 million hits on Youtube. Simply enter “Cantina Band, Ragtime Duet,” and be amazed!
Since this edition celebrates all things John Williams, let’s finish with yet another accomplishment: In 2005, The American Film Institute declared the Star Wars soundtrack to be the best film score of all time.
In my dreams, once he hits 100, John Williams will start his own classic jazz band (names be considered? The Sugarland Seven; The Cantina Rug Cutters; The Jurassic Jumpers). No matter what path he chooses at that time, I’ll invoke the sign-off Ralph Sutton always closed his correspondence (and I closed my first column) with: Keep breathin’!
Jeff Barnhart is an internationally renowned pianist, vocalist, arranger, bandleader, recording artist, ASCAP composer, educator and entertainer. Visit him online atwww.jeffbarnhart.com. Email: Mysticrag@aol.com
