Clarion Call: Interview with Thomas Hooten

Exclusive interview with Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra Principal Trumpet, who just released the album Hooten Plays Williams, featuring the music of John Williams conducted by the composer

Hosted by Maurizio Caschetto

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Hooten Plays Williams is the new album of Thomas Hooten, the brilliant Principal Trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. For his debut orchestral album, the talented trumpet player wanted to feature the concert music of John Williams, with whom he nurtured a professional relationship over the last few years. Tom embarked on a very exciting mission to independently produce a brand new recording of John Williams’ Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra, with the composer himself conducting. In Tom’s intentions, the recording was an opportunity to showcase the brilliance of Williams’ music for the concert stage, which “people listen to like his movie music, but it’s more intricate and sophisticated”, he says. He performed a transcription for concert band of the first movement of Williams’ Trumpet Concerto, during a concert with the U.S. Marine Band “The President’s Own” in 2016.

The journey to produce the recording was long and full of surprises, because it’s very complicated and expensive in this day and age to produce a brand new independent studio recording of orchestral music in Los Angeles. But Tom’s resiliency was the key factor in making this true passion project a reality. Last September, he launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the recording and he successfully reached the goal in a few days. He was able to involve John Williams himself to conduct the orchestra for the recording, which features a pool of exceptional top players from the LA area. He was able to record in the legendary Sony Scoring Stage in Los Angeles, with Shawn Murphy engineering and balancing the recording. Together with the Trumpet Concerto, Williams and Hooten also recorded the main theme from Born on the Fourth of July, a beautiful lyrical piece featuring a haunting solo trumpet, adapted from the film score for the 1989 film by Oliver Stone. The album Hooten Plays Williams was released internationally on March 8, 2019.

In this interview Tom talks about the genesis of this project and how it became reality, but also speaks about his collaboration with John Williams, what he think his legacy will be and his life as a professional musician.

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Hooten Plays Williams is available to listen, stream and purchase on several digital outlets and platforms. For more information, go here: http://lnk.to/HootenWilliams

Very special thanks to Tom Hooten and Ryan Svendsen for their collaboration and support. For more information on Tom’s career, recordings and upcoming performances, visit his official website: https://www.tomhooten.com/

You can follow Tom on his social media pages:

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Tom Hooten performing the first movement of John Williams’ Concerto for Trumpet (adapted for concert band by Paul Lavender), with the U.S. Marine Band “The President’s Own”:

Tom Hooten performing “With Malice Toward None” from Lincoln, with John Williams conducting the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles, taken from the album John Williams/Steven Spielberg – The Ultimate Collection:

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