Legendary pianist and keyboardist talks his unparalleled career as a first-call studio musician on thousands of film scores for top film composers, including his many collaborations with John Williams, for whom he played on more than 30 films including The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, The Eiger Sanction and Hook
Pianist Mike Lang certainly doesn't need much introduction among the legendary musicians who performed on film and television soundtracks in the last 50 years. He represents the epitome of the greatness and versatility of the studio musician in several different ways, having performed with virtually all the greatest film composers since the 1960s in more than 2,000 film scores, in many cases as first pianist and keyboardist, but also with an impressive slew of iconic recording artists. Lang's resume is one of the most impressive among any living musician on the planet.
Lang's career as pianist for film scores is the stuff of legend. He performed in thousands of film and television soundtracks serving virtually all the legendary film composers of the last 50 years including John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, John Barry, Henry Mancini, Michel Legrand, Bill Conti, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard.
Mike Lang's collaborations with John Williams started in the early 1970s and continued until the very recent years, playing in scores like The Towering Inferno, The Eiger Sanction, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1941, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Always, Hook, Rosewood, Catch Me If You Can and many others.
In this wide-ranging, fun conversation, Mike sits down with The Legacy of John Williams' Editor Maurizio Caschetto and Head Contributor Tim Burden to talk about his unparalleled career as one of the most sought-after studio musicians in the history of music, not just film scores, reminiscing on his beginnings, his training and his early years playing for film composers, including John Williams. Mike also offers his own unique insight about Williams' musicianship, the Maestro's skills as pianist and the evolution of his career, while pondering also on the life as a studio musician with all its unique aspects and idiosincracies.
For more information, visit https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2021/11/16/mike-lang-podcast