The Baton: A John Williams Musical Journey

Steven Spielberg convinced semi-retired John Williams to write the film score for his new science-fiction epic about alien visitations called Disclosure Day. The result is a "restrained" score that lacks the thematic richness we have come to expect from Williams. But the score, as host Jeff Commings details, is one of the best Williams has written in the 21st century. Join this episode to hear mus...

The fifth Indiana Jones movie brought 79-year-old Harrison Ford back into the old fedora for another adventure involving a precious artifact that could spell doom if put into the wrong hands. Along for the ride was 91-year-old John Williams, who completed his 43-year association with Indy with a score that features callbacks to moments from previous Indiana Jones films and a lack of a major theme...

Looking for something to pass the time as you wait for episode 113 of The Baton? Since the next John Williams film score won't be released until summer 2023, there won't be a new episode of The Baton until then. But host Jeff Commings has another podcast that can help you fill the time with more Hollywood history. This show, called The Best Song Podcast, is perfect for fans of Hollywood history, o...

Host Jeff Commings is back on The Baton to discuss what might be the final film collaboration between director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams. The Fabelmans is Spielberg's semiautobiographical film about his family and the beginnings of his career as a filmmaker. Though the film is 200 minutes long, there is only about 30 minutes of original music from John Williams in it. Commings de...

This is the final episode of "The Baton: A John Williams Musical Journey," and host Jeff Commings has invited one of the premier analysts of John Williams' music to talk about his extensive catalog for the "Star Wars" and Indiana Jones films. Frank Lehman discusses the genesis of the idea to examine all of the thematic material in both film series, and breaks down two of his favorite themes from t...

After a mind-boggling span of 42 years, John Williams closed out his involvement with the "Star Wars" film series with the score for "The Rise of Skywalker." Host Jeff Commings and cohost Paulius Eidukas talk about the missteps in director J.J. Abrams' choices visually and musically. The two talk about the four new themes that flow through the score, all four notable because they connect more to a...

In what might be their final film collaboration, Steven Spielberg and John Williams worked together to give us a score for "The Post" that doesn't go full bore with the orchestra, using instead the emotion of electronic pulses and Americana touches to convey the tension of publishing the Pentagon Papers in The Washington Post. Host Jeff Commings and co-host Paul Wright discuss the way Williams per...

Rian Johnson took over for J.J. Abrams as director of the second film in the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy, titled "The Last Jedi." Johnson changed the tone and direction of the sequel dramatically, and composer John Williams went along for the ride with a couple of new themes for two new characters whose music only appears in this film, for different reasons. Host Jeff Commings is joined again by Pa...

Trombone player and music teacher Paul Wright makes his debut appearance on "The Baton" to defend the Steven Spielberg film "The BFG" and discusses with host Jeff Commings the intricate compositional technique John Williams used for this score. From creating virtuosic flute writing to reaching back to past themes to give us a buffoonish motif for the villains, the co-hosts have a blast dissecting...

When the news broke that Disney would be producing a new trilogy of "Star Wars" films taking place after the events of "Return of the Jedi," the logical choice was to have John Williams return to continue his expansive space opera composition. And he returned with some new themes for "The Force Awakens" that featured a complex motif for the female hero and a theme for the villain that, not surpris...

Host Jeff Commings and co-host David Kay discuss the quiet yet personal score for "The Book Thief" in this episode. John Williams lobbied hard to be the composer for this film after reading the book and the script, and Kay believes Williams found a personal and intimate connection to the story at 81 years old. In addition to discussing the themes Williams wrote for Death and the heroine Liesel, th...

John Williams only worked on one film score when he turned 80 years old, collaborating once again with Steven Spielberg for "Lincoln." The film marked the 40th year of Spielberg and Williams working together, and it required Spielberg to exercise a lot of restraint in a dialogue-heavy film. Williams also shows some restraint in writing music for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, providing a noble bu...

John Williams had the opportunity to return to the English style of music he loves so much, drawing on the influences of Ralph Vaughan Williams for his score to Steven Spielberg's film "War Horse." Host Jeff Commings is joined by composer Victor Josse for this look into the stunning setpieces of the film and the music that accompanies them. That includes the moving prologue, the emotional plowing...

Though John Williams didn't have a film score released in 2009 or 2010, he was working hard during that time on his next project, an animated film adaptation of the popular Tintin character, called "The Adventures of Tintin." Host Jeff Commings talks about why Williams was allowed nearly two years to write the score, as well as the other pieces of music he wrote in that timeframe. Co-host Felix Mo...

John Williams' 100th film brought him back into the world of Indiana Jones, this time writing music for our fedora-wearing adventurer's quest to find a mythical skull that has strange powers. Joining host Jeff Commings on this episode to discuss the highs and lows of the film and score is Brian Martell, marking his fourth appearance on "The Baton." The two discuss Shia Labeouf's miscasting, Cate B...

Break out the confetti and party hats! The 100th episode of The Baton is here! And on this episode, host Jeff Commings talks about John Williams' haunting score for Steven Spielberg's "Munich," the story of revenge after the 1972 deaths of 11 Israelis at the Munich Olympics. John Williams gives us four themes that provide the mold for the score, a radical departure from his work on Spielberg's "Wa...

John Williams wanted to be the composer for the film version of the novel "Memoirs of a Geisha" long before a script was written or a budget finalized. He realized the opportunity to infuse Japanese flavors into a Westernized score, and he enlisted the help of previous collaborators Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman to play on the cello and violin, respectively. Host Jeff Commings talks about the themes...

Steven Spielberg had long wanted to do an alien invasion movie featuring very bad visitors to Earth, and he finally checked that off his list with "War of the Worlds." In telling the story, John Williams went into full horror mode, employing some of the tactics used previously by such classical composers as Igor Stravinsky, especially in the first alien attack that turned out to be one of the most...

Host Jeff Commings starts this episode of "The Baton" with a not-so-great opinion about John Williams' score to "Revenge of the Sith," the final film in the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy. Can co-host Andrew Ledford change our host's mind about the score as they discuss the use of the Emperor's theme, the Force theme and the music for all the lightsaber battles? It's going to be a tough sell, but by...

Though the movie and score for "The Terminal" might seem like a blip on the radar, neither Steven Spielberg nor John Williams approached this film any less seriously than their major successes. The story marks Tom Hanks' third film with Spielberg, as an Eastern European man stuck in the JFK airport for nine months. Williams supplies a wonderfully light theme for Viktor, as well as a lyrical love t...

Many John Williams fans sneered at the music for "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," mostly because the Maestro chose to almost completely scrap the musical ideas he created for the first two films in favor of darker themes and tonalities in Alfonso Cuaron's take on the franchise. Host Jeff Commings is joined by Paulius Eidukas as the two talk about some of the new themes that make up the...

John Williams capped off a marathon year of writing film scores with his Oscar-nominated composition for Steven Spielberg's dramedy "Catch Me If You Can." The score gave Williams the opportunity to return to his jazz roots, writing music that reflected the 1960s setting of the film. Many of the music cues feature saxophone solos by Dan Higgins, who joins host Jeff Commings to talk about his musica...

The demanding work schedule John Williams faced in 2002 meant he had to make a tough choice for his score to "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." He asked composer/orchestrator William Ross to help out by adapting much of the music from the first film for use in the sequel, while fitting the new music Williams wrote into certain places. This allowed Williams to work on Steven Spielberg's sec...

John Williams didn't have a lot of time to think about the score for Steven Spielberg's futuristic science fiction thriller "Minority Report," going right into the project almost immediately after finishing work on "Attack of the Clones." Spielberg and Williams agreed on a score that put more emphasis on tone rather than melody, something that was quite new for a Spielberg/Williams collaboration....

The 2002 film "Attack of the Clones" not only challenged John Williams with continuing the musical portrait he started with "The Phantom Menace" and closing the gap with the original "Star Wars" trilogy, but also trying to write a compelling score before he had to dash off to write music for "Minority Report." In the end, Williams was unable to finish his score, using music from "The Phantom Menac...