Sail on Tommy Johnson
Posted: October 30, 2006 12:23 pm
LOS ANGELES Remember the scary tuba music when the shark in the movie "Jaws" was about to strike?
The man responsible for that music has died. Tommy Johnson was the tuba player whose notes provided the backdrop to those frightening moments.
Johnson was 71 and died at the U-C-L-A Medical Center in Los Angeles from cancer and kidney failure.
During his 50-year career, Johnson provided musical heft to a lot of films, including "The Godfather," "The Star Trek" movies and "Titanic."
Jaws composer John Williams says when he wrote the theme, he wanted instruments that could plunge "the sonic depths." He says the tuba is an instrument that can do that and says Tommy Johnson played it "with great facility and ease."
Johnson also worked in television and performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Academy Awards Orchestra.
The man responsible for that music has died. Tommy Johnson was the tuba player whose notes provided the backdrop to those frightening moments.
Johnson was 71 and died at the U-C-L-A Medical Center in Los Angeles from cancer and kidney failure.
During his 50-year career, Johnson provided musical heft to a lot of films, including "The Godfather," "The Star Trek" movies and "Titanic."
Jaws composer John Williams says when he wrote the theme, he wanted instruments that could plunge "the sonic depths." He says the tuba is an instrument that can do that and says Tommy Johnson played it "with great facility and ease."
Johnson also worked in television and performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Academy Awards Orchestra.