Jabba the Hutt

Floyd recorded the Jabba the Hutt solo with John Williams in the winter of 1990 at the Skywalker Ranch soundstage in Marin County. This was the first recording made there, and it was a fitting kickoff for the impressive post production studio. When we were recording, I was truly lucky to have Shawn Walker as my recording engineer. He is a tuba player as well (he plays on a Hirshbrunner 4/4 CC made just for lefties), and he knew exactly where to place my microphone so that the solo would sound great on the recording.

I performed the solo once before with Mr. Williams at a Pops concert with the SFS, and had plenty of notice before the recording date. We recorded it in just two takes! I chose my Alexander F tuba to represent Jabba, and if you listen carefully you can hear it on other cuts—cleverly disguising itself as a CC tuba. When I first listened to the recording, it was a good reminder that we control the sound we make; it’s not the instrument. Although it’s worth noting that if you listen to the entire set, you’ll also hear me playing a Holton CC and Hirshbrunner 4/4 rotary. You can hear the recording on Sony Classics SK45947, Star Wars Trilogy.