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Earlier today I was watching "When Star Wars Ruled the World" on Vh1. There was a little part about the music, and it showed a little clip of John Williams conducting an orchestra. In the orchestra was the John Fletcher (sp?) (I could tell by the hair). I was wondering if anyone knew if he was the tubist in the origonal Star Wars soundtrack, or if I saw a random clip.

John Fletcher was, indeed, the original tuba player on the first three episodes of Star Wars.

In the orignal LP, there's an insert that lists the entire orchestra. It lists both John Fletcher and Stephen Wick.

As for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Chuck is right . . . John Fletcher definitely played on them. I don't know if there were any other tubists as with A New Hope.

Cheers!

Yes! John Fletcher is awesome. I also saw that Gene Pokorny was the tuba in the Jurrasic Park recordings. John Williams + world renown tuba player = Box office gold.

[quote]I also saw that Gene Pokorny was the tuba in the Jurrasic Park recordings...[quote]



Jim Self was principal tuba for Jurrasic Park. Gene Pokorny, Tommy Johnson and I played second on a few of the sessions.
Norm Pearson

Whoa...

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THE TUBA wrote:Earlier today I was watching "When Star Wars Ruled the World" on Vh1. There was a little part about the music, and it showed a little clip of John Williams conducting an orchestra. In the orchestra was the John Fletcher (sp?) (I could tell by the hair). I was wondering if anyone knew if he was the tubist in the origonal Star Wars soundtrack, or if I saw a random clip.

I saw that part of the program too, and JF was playing his Besson Eb alongside another guy playing some sort of similar upright horn. On a side note, in the days before home video, you could buy a child's movie kit including a small vinyl record along with a little book that told a short version of the movie. The "Jedi" one was done here in Nashville with Gil Long and myself playing tuba using the original track parts. This was recorded before the movie came out and I was amused by these strange new terms like "Ewoks", etc. The playback sounded great, but you could hardly hear the music on the actual record. My claim to tuba fame.

Ike

A "shocking" footnote: John Fletcher told me that MOST of the (First at least) "Star Wars" soundtrack was taken from the FIRST READTHROUGH of the music. The LSO is a fantastic reading orchestra due to the frequency of it's film contract playing. John told me he looked through the part 1/2 hour or so before the "session", played what "looked tricky" once or twice, and READ the rest of the score. Amazing.

Haugan wrote:A "shocking" footnote: John Fletcher told me that MOST of the (First at least) "Star Wars" soundtrack was taken from the FIRST READTHROUGH of the music.

Sweet...

I've sightread performances before (it's really a lot of fun!), but they were easier -- none of them had the depth, variety, and outright "newness" of the Star Wars score.

I always felt that the original recording felt a little loose, maybe unrehearsed, and quite energetic. Now I know why.

"evilcartman" wrote: " I don't think even the best of modern studio orchestras can claim that." Actually they probably (the L.A. ones, at least) CAN....just not at the "bargain basement" price the LSO charged. I was told by a aquaintance who is on the "inside track" of L.A. studio music that the use of the LSO as "Star Wars'" soundtrack orchestra was primarily a financial decision. "Outsourcing" isn't just confined to automobile workers......A p.s. to Matt H. - "Jabba" (was he in the FIRST movie?, I can't remember) undoubtedly would have been one of those "tricky spots" "Fletch" had a look at beforehand. He DID state that he'd "never seen film writing like this before" for tuba. John Williams command of orchestration reminds me a little of the first time I performed/encountered the tuba part to Richard Strauss' opera "Solome". At the time, I remember thinking "Here is a guy who REALLY knows how to push the limits!" Both write extreemly well for the tuba, VERY challanging but still "inside the box".

tuben wrote:Is that totally true? Let's remember the movie was filmed in England,

.. and Tunisia...

Seriously, the cost was low enough for Kurtz & Co. to choose to not record in the US. Remember that Star Wars was still a cheap, relatively low-budget flick; it wasn't a blockbuster until it actually hit the theaters.

Quite a number of movies & soundtracks are produced outside Hollywood. Musicians get good pay thanks to union contracts, but that pay has to come from somewhere, and that's the movie's budget. When it comes to the music on the screen, does 95% of the public really care who was playing the instruments?

(I know, we do, but most don't...)

Leland wrote:Quite a number of movies & soundtracks are produced outside Hollywood.

This may be a case where studio musicians / unions may have bargained themselves out of a bunch of work.