L.A. Studio Legends #8: Tim Morrison

Legendary trumpeteer talks his illustrious career as former Associate Principal Trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra / Principal Trumpet of the Boston Pops and his subsequent life as studio musician in Los Angeles, including his many collaborations with John Williams as soloist on such scores as Born On The Fourth of July, JFK, Nixon and Saving Private RyanHosted by Maurizio Caschetto and Tim BurdenTrumpet legend Tim Morrison has defined probably more than any other soloists one of the key signature styles of John Williams, enhancing the American spirit in many of the composer’s brilliant pieces for film and the concert hall through his singing, lyrical trumpet sound and purity of tone. Tim Morrison has been the voice of Ron Kovic’s struggle in Born on the Fourth of July and the reminiscence of President Kennedy’s core American values in JFK; he underlined John Quincy Adams’ noble speeches in Amistad, and accompanied with somber, plaintive tones the drama of World War II American soldiers in Saving Private Ryan. Whenever John Williams needed that signature American sound in some of his film scores, he often chose Tim Morrison to be the interpreter of choice. Also, as Principal Trumpet of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1987 to 1997, he has often being the soloist of choice in many concerts and recordings with Williams on the podium.Born in 1955 in Portland, Oregon, Timothy Morrison began his studies with Fred Sautter, the former principal trumpet of the Oregon Symphony. He graduated at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he was a student of former Boston Symphony principal trumpeters Roger Voisin and Armando Ghitalla. He started his professional career by playing in the State Symphony of Mexico in Toluca, Mexico, and then joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1980 as part of the trumpet section and ended his first tenure in 1984 to tour and record with the renowned group Empire Brass, performing in over 100 concerts a year. He returned in Boston in 1987 to become Associate Principal of the BSO and Principal Trumpet of the Boston Pops. It was around this time that he started to get noticed by John Williams, who was then Music Director of the Pops.The big moment arrived in 1989, when John Williams asked Tim Morrison to be soloist on his score to Born on the Fourth of July, an arresting drama directed by Oliver Stone based on the autobiography of Vietnam war veteran Ron Kovic (portrayed in the film with a stunning performance by Tom Cruise). The success of that score was the start of a very long and fruitful collaboration between Williams and Morrison, which continued immediately the following year for JFK (1991), again directed by Oliver Stone. The prominence of these trumpet solos in Williams’ scores put Morrison into the spotlight as he started getting requests also from other film composers to perform as soloist on their recordings. In 1995, James Horner gave him patriotic Americana solos to perform in the Academy Award-nominated score for Apollo 13. In 1996, Morrison entered also in the annals of Olympic history—he was the dedicatee of “Summon The Heroes”, the official theme composed by John Williams for the Centennial of the Summer Olympic Games held in Atlanta, USA. In 1997, Morrison left the BSO and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a new life as studio musician and freelance artist, playing in in many film and television scores for virtually all of the top film composers in the industry.Further collaborations with John Williams included Amistad (1997) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). He continued to perform in the trumpet section (alongside his colleague Malcolm McNab) on many John Williams’ scores, including The Patriot, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, The Terminal, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull, War Horse, but also on special projects like the E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 20th Anniversary live-to-picture concert at the Shrine Auditorium in 2002, the recording sessions for the American Journey album, the theme for PBS’ Great Performances and a new recording of the music Williams wrote for NBC News.In this wide, in-depth conversation, Tim talks about his brilliant career and musical life, from his studies and early days as performer to his arrival in Boston, his many collaborations with John Williams as soloist on Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Nixon and Saving Private Ryan, but also the many brilliant Boston Pops recordings he performed in, including the iconic Summon the Heroes solo. He also reflects on Williams’ comment about his “American sound”, his life as studio musician in L.A. and the importance of teaching and coaching.For more information, visit https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2020/11/27/tim-morrison-podcast/