thanks for that, mike - he'd be a great party guest... lots of stories to tell, and he's never making himself the centre of attention... he certainly looks like he loves what he's doing, but even more so he's highly enthusiastic about the composers he has worked with.
i love things like this which focus on the players... very often we forget that real people are making those sounds, it's more than just the guy who writes it - so it's nice to get a chance to hear from one of the musicians... even if he almost seems to downplay his own contribution.
Totally! Lots of good stuff. Cool to hear that Spielberg originally wanted to be a composer. And I know Malcolm's played on something like 2,000 scores. Amazing.
A little more on the Herrmann linoleum tuba mute experience is in this memorial program (page 23): http://www.tommyjohnsontuba.com/images/tommy_johnson_program.pdf There's some other stuff in there as well about Jaws, Michael Kamen, plus some comments from Bruce Broughton and Malcom McNab.