John Williams is an American composer who has written some of the most famous film scores ever. He composed the music for over a hundred films, many of them directed by Steven Spielberg. As Johnny Sr. took a job as a percussionist with the Columbia Studio Orchestra in the late 1940s, the family relocated to Los Angeles. As a result, the Williams grew up surrounded by film scoring, as well as the jazz that was commonplace in the Williams household. As a child, Williams was a gifted pianist, and his ability to sightread easily made him an ideal performer for film scoring sessions. He played piano on film score/soundtrack recordings for Some Like it Hot, Touch of Evil, and West Side Story, among others. Williams went on to write compositions for famous composers including Alfred Newman and Bernard Herrmann. He soon began writing his own film and television scores.