John Williams (b. 1932) is perhaps the most famous and accomplished composer alive today. His fame rests on the dozens of movie scores he has composed, including the entire Star Wars saga, the Indiana Jones series, and the initial Harry Potter films. Like so many of the characters he scores, he has quite a rich back story, including a jazz career as Johnny Williams and a Sinfonietta for Winds and Percussion from the 60s. There is no denying, though, that his film scores have been front and center in his career. For a fuller picture, read about him at Wikipedia, IMDb, his main fan page, Classic FM, Brittanica, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Kennedy Center, and the New Yorker.

1941 is a film directed by Steven Spielberg in 1979. It is a war comedy set just after the events of the Pearl Harbor attack, starring John Belushi in essentially a slapstick role. It received mixed reviews upon its release, with some reviewers finding its very premise as a World War II comedy in poor taste. While it did make a profit at the box office, it was widely seen as a flop, and Spielberg has since talked about it as a humbling experience. Perhaps the best thing to come from the film is John Williams’s score, which includes a march, titled The March from “1941”, that was transcribed for band by Paul Lavender in 2003. Williams gives a brief program note in Lavender’s score:

Steven Spielberg’s hilarious comedy 1941 featured the late actor John Belushi brilliantly portraying a character known as Wild Bill Kelso.

Kelso was a crazy, impertinent but lovable Air Force pilot whose antics seemed to require a musical accompaniment that had humor and rhythmic vitality. As a result, I set myself the task of writing a zanily patriotic march that upon hearing, we might be moved to tap our feet to an imaginary parade going by, and have fun doing it.

Here is the US Army Field Band performing Lavender’s transcription:

John Williams conducts his original version:

The film’s trailer uses a chunk of The March as well:

For more on The March, visit the Wind Repertory Project and J. W. Pepper.