John Williams’s Catch Me If You Can

September’s score of the month is Escapades for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra by John Williams, taken from his score to Catch Me If You Can. We are joined by woodwind player Dan Higgins as he and moderator David Das lead us through sections of the jazzy, sultry, and at times, dizzying score, lending us their extensive knowledge. 

DAN HIGGINS first distinguished himself as an outstanding saxophonist while attending University of North Texas. He played lead alto in the 1 o’clock lab band and can be heard on Lab 76 and Lab 77. He taught both saxophone and improvisation and was a member of the 1976 State Department tour to Russia. Dan has been a guest at the University of North Texas lecture series and played in the 1997 50th anniversary Alumni All-Star Reunion Band.

Dan has worked with bands and jazz artists such as Louis Bellson, Dave Grusin, Stanley Clarke, Arturo Sandoval and George Duke. As a member of the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin big band, Dan recorded two albums and toured Europe and Japan. He can be heard on jazz albums with Quincy Jones, Arturo Sandoval, Sammy Nestico, and Pat Williams. Dan contributed 2 arrangements on the 2013 Grammy winning CD of Arturo Sandoval “Dear Diz”.

As a Los Angeles based professional and a member of the “Jerry Hey Horn Section,” Dan has recorded with such noted artists as Phil Collins, Jose Feliciano, Cher, Natalie Cole, Randy Newman, Babyface, Dave Matthews Band, Katy Perry, Whitney Houston, Harry Connick Jr., Christina Aguilera, Ringo Starr, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Queen Latifa, Roberta Flack, Barbra Streisand, Michael Buble, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Frank Sinatra, Andrea Bocelli, Bette Midler, Rod Stewart and Neil Young. When I Fall in Love, with Natalie Cole, produced by David Foster, features Dan on tenor sax. He is also a featured soloist on numerous albums including Quincy Jones’s Basie and Beyond, Gordon Goodwin’s Swinging for the Fences and Wayne Bergeron’s You Call this a Living.

David Das is a prolific composer, producer, and songwriter based in Los Angeles. His experience covers a vast range of visual and performance media, from feature films, TV shows, cartoons, commercials, trailers to modern music production, choral and orchestral writing/arranging, and more. David has worked on projects for Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox, CollegeHumor, Funny or Die, DirecTV, Dreamworks, Fremantle Media, Intel, BBDO, HBO, PBS, TLC, Telemundo, Weight Watchers, Coca Cola, Hal Leonard, and many others. He has composed music for dozens of TV shows, scored films (such as Lionsgate’s 2014 feature thriller “The Appearing“), and written and produced songs for numerous pop, rock, R&B, soul, and indie artists.

David is a board member of the Academy of Scoring Arts, and is also actively involved with the Society of Composers & Lyricists, BMI and PMA.