[Trombone-l] Tommy Johnson

[Alisha Ard]

This looks to be the obituary that ran in the LA Times yesterday.   
Tommy passed away on the 16th.  I heard it first from one of his USC  
students.

Alisha


On Oct 26, 2006, at 1:47 PM, Ken Barnes wrote:

>
> At the risk of being flamed for being a "Faux News" watcher,  may I  
> point
> out that Neil Cavuto just tipped his hat to this story and to Tommy  
> Johnson
> this afternoon.
>
> Haven't heard it elsewhere -- I wonder: Was Cavuto a tubist?
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill Dinwiddie" <billdin at comcast.net>
> To: "List Trombone" <TROMBONE-L at server5.samford.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 9:52 AM
> Subject: [Trombone-l] Tommy Johnson
>
>
>> Tommy Johnson, 71
>> Noted tuba player's movie work boosted the tension in `Jaws'
>>
>> By Claire Noland, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
>> October 25, 2006
>>
>> The opening notes, low and ominous, send a chill up the spine of
>> anyone sitting in a darkened theater. The great white shark is
>> near, cutting through the water in pursuit of its prey.
>>
>> John Williams composed the music and the mounting tension it
>> conveys for the soundtrack of the movie "Jaws."
>>
>> Tuba player Tommy Johnson lifted those relentlessly accelerating
>> notes off the page, giving voice to the shark while bringing terror
>> to the movie audience.
>>
>> A "first call" studio musician who played tuba on thousands of
>> film scores over nearly 50 years, Johnson died Oct. 16 from
>> complications of cancer and kidney failure at UCLA Medical
>> Center, said his wife, Patricia Johnson. He was 71 and had been
>> working until a few weeks before his death.
>>
>> The first movie Johnson played on was "Al Capone," with a score
>> by David Raksin. That 1959 film was followed by a seemingly
>> endless list highlighted by "The Godfather," "Close Encounters of
>> the Third Kind," the "Indiana Jones" trilogy, the "Star Trek" movie
>> series, "The Lion King," "Titanic" and "The Thin Red Line."
>>
>> But it was "Jaws" in 1975 that best showcased his film work.
>>
>> "What I had in mind were the lower instruments of the orchestra,
>> those capable of plunging the sonic depths … that would
>> represent the shark in music," Williams said Tuesday in an
>> interview with The Times.
>>
>> "The tuba was one of the instruments that could create that
>> atmosphere. It's a difficult tuba part, and players need to be on
>> their toes to do it. Tommy played it with great facility and ease,
>> from where I was standing on the podium, as he always did. He
>> was an outstanding instrumentalist."
>>
>> Johnson called "Jaws" his most memorable experience in the
>> recording studio. Stuck in traffic on the 405 Freeway during a
>> rainstorm, he arrived late to the session.
>>
>> "When you're late like that, you're just really all upset," Johnson
>> recalled in a 2004 interview with tubanews.com. "So as I sat
>> down and barely got the mouthpiece in the tuba, I happened to
>> open the book and the first cue is this big, long tuba solo….
>>
>> "This solo kept recurring in almost every cue. I found out later
>> that was the theme for the shark. I asked John Williams later why
>> he wrote that so high for the tuba, why didn't he write that for
>> the French horns since it was in the perfect range for them? He
>> said, 'Well, I wanted something that was in that register but I
>> wanted it to sound a little more threatening.' "
>>
>> In addition to working on film, television and music recordings,
>> Johnson performed with many local ensembles, including the Los
>> Angeles Philharmonic, the Pasadena Symphony, the Hollywood
>> Bowl Orchestra and the Academy Awards Orchestra.
>>
>> He also taught music to junior high school students in the Los
>> Angeles Unified School District for nearly 20 years. For most of
>> his career, he taught advanced tuba players individually and at
>> USC and UCLA.
>>
>> Among Johnson's former students are Norm Pearson of the Los
>> Angeles Philharmonic, Alan Baer of the New York Philharmonic
>> and Gene Pokorny of the Chicago Symphony — all principal
>> tubists.
>>
>> "That's an unheard-of record of success for a teacher," said
>> Terry Cravens, chairman of the winds and percussion department
>> at USC's Thornton School of Music.
>>
>> "It's very difficult to win a symphony job, and he's got those three
>> students in the three top symphonies."
>>
>> Jim Self, who studied with Johnson at USC before joining him as
>> an instructor, also played with him on "Close Encounters of the
>> Third Kind," among other film scores.
>>
>> The principal tubist for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Self said
>> most students appreciated Johnson for more than his tuba
>> playing. "His lessons were lessons in life; he helped them be
>> better people."
>>
>> John Thomas Johnson was born Jan. 7, 1935, in Los Angeles to a
>> tailor and his wife. Johnson and his four older sisters were
>> exposed to music early on because their father was a baritone
>> soloist in the choir at the Angelus Temple in Echo Park.
>>
>> He received a bachelor's degree in music from USC in 1956 and
>> a year later married Patricia Lehman, a fellow music student who
>> now plays violin for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
>>
>> They had four children: Keith Johnson, a cellist in the Melbourne
>> Symphony in Australia; Sue Jacobson of Westlake Village; Michael
>> Johnson of Phoenix; and Jennifer Bellusci, a Granada Hills violinist.
>> They survive him, along with nine grandchildren and his sister,
>> Almita Shivers.
>>
>> Instead of a funeral, family members and friends will play at a
>> musical tribute to be held Dec. 3 at Bovard Auditorium on the
>> USC campus.
>>
>> Forwarded by Bill Dinwiddie
>> billdin at comcast.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
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