Among the many fine reed instrumentalists who spent their career working as studio musicians in Hollywood, Phil Ayling deserves an honourable mention. He has performed oboe, English Horn and a wide variety of woodwind instruments on countless film and television soundtracks, including many scores by John Williams.
A native of Los Angeles, Phil Ayling was active as a Double Reed soloist in Hollywood for almost 40 years, starting in the mid-1970’s. While Phil did some live performances playing the classical repertoire, concert performances with pop & rock stars, as well as performing for traditional Broadway shows (Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, A Little Night Music, etc.), the vast majority of his career was spent as a session musician for recordings. In addition to playing all the members of the oboe family (oboe, English Horn, musette, oboe d’Amore and baritone oboe), Phil also played recorder, pennywhistle and period woodwinds on various projects too.
His primary teacher was Norman Benno, who formerly played Principal Oboe in the Seattle Symphony and was the last Principal Oboe for Universal Pictures when they had a regular staff orchestra. Norm Benno was one of the leading oboists in Los Angeles circa 1950-1985.
Phil’s recording work for movies and television is extensive. He can be
heard playing oboe or English Horn on almost 1,700 movies and the
underscore for thousands of TV episodes, including many shows for composers Mike Post and Pete Carpenter such as Magnum P.I. and The A-Team. He was a featured soloist in many film scores by top Hollywood composers including John Williams, Hans Zimmer, John Debney, Dave Grusin, Alan Silvestri, Patrick Doyle, Harry Gregson-Williams, Trevor Rabin, Randy Newman and the late Jerry Goldsmith.
His first session for John Williams was in 1981 for the film Heartbeeps, in which he performed 2nd oboe alongside some esteemed colleagues including Earle Dumler and David Weiss. He credits contractor Sandy DeCrescent for the privilege of being given a chance to perform for Williams. Up until that point, John Ellis was Williams’ oboist of choice on his LA recordings during the 1970’s; Ellis decided to leave Hollywood for a while in the early 1980’s, before returning to play again for Williams and a few other composers on selected projects from 1998 until 2005. Ayling remembers feeling the pressure on those sessions, as they featured several tricky moments for the instrument.
Ayling became one of the regulars in the oboe section for Williams (together with Tom Boyd and Barbara Northcutt) in the early 1990s on such films as Home Alone, Hook and JFK, often doubling on English Horn and being assigned some exquisite solos such as the “Garrison Family Theme” in JFK.
Ayling can be heard also on Jurassic Park, Sabrina, The Lost World, Seven Years In Tibet, Amistad, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, War of The Worlds and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In addition to oboe and English Horn, Ayling also played period or ethnic winds on such films as Far And Away, Schindler’s List and The Patriot.
Ayling also had the privilege of performing on several special projects by John Williams including the 20th Anniversary live to picture concert of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial at the Shrine Auditorium in 2002; the theme music for NBC News; the Sony Classical album American Journey and the recording of the Cello Concerto with Yo-Yo Ma.
In addition to his work for film and television, Ayling has played with many top recording artists including Aretha Franklin, Christina Aguilera, James Taylor, Josh Groban, Harry Connick jr., Barbra Streisand, Madonna, Dolly Parton, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Eric Clapton and many others. Phil retired from studio recording in 2013. Some of his final projects include performing on the #1 song “Let It Go” and other music for Disney’s Frozen, Randy Newman’s score for Monsters University and playing the music of Heitor Pereira and Pharrell Williams on the scores for Despicable Me 1 & 2.
In addition to his performing activities, Phil also spent many years as a
Player Representative to various labor negotiations with the recording
industry on behalf of rank and file musicians and the American Federation
of Musicians (AFM). He also served as President of the Recording Musicians Association International (RMA) and is President Emeritus of the organization.
In this conversation, Phil recollects his long and distinguished career as one of Hollywood’s primary reed instrumentalists, his early years playing on television scores and his first session with John Williams. During the talk, he also reflects on the quality of Williams’ writing for the oboe and reed instruments in general, offering examples and anecdotes from the many sessions he played on.
List of music excerpts featured in the episode (music by John Williams except where noted)
. Sonny & Cher, “I Got You Babe”, from the album Look At Us (1965)
. “Main Title” from Bachelor Flat (1963)
. Alex North, “A Gift From Caesar” from Cleopatra (1963)
. “Val’s First Drive,” “Crimebuster,” “In the Woods” from Heartbeeps (1981)
. “Garrison Family Theme” from JFK (1991)
. “Schindler’s Workforce” from Schindler’s List (1993)
. “Steering East,” “African Violet” from Amistad (1997)
. “Stolen Memories” from Schindler’s List (1993)
. “Blowing Off Steam” from Far and Away (1992)
. “Ann and Gabriel” from The Patriot (2000)
. “A New Name… A New Life,” “Chiyo’s Prayer” from Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
. “Discovering the Bible” from Amistad (1997)
. “David’s Arrival” from A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
. “Presenting the Hook” from Hook (1991)
. Harold Arlen/E.Y. Harburg, “If I Only Had a Brain” from The Wizard of Oz (1939)
. “Peter Remembers” from Hook (1991)
. “Palace Invitation” from Seven Years In Tibet (1997)
. “The Falling Car,” “Stalling Around” from Jurassic Park (1993)
. “Learning the Ropes” from Catch Me If You Can (2002)
. “Stay With Me” from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary live performance at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles (March 2002)
. “Looking For Work” from The Terminal (2004)
The Legacy of John Williams 