39 years ago today on August 20th, 1982, Pan American Airlines debuted its first television Ad with music composed by Brian Walton. Recorded at the prestigious A&R Records A1 studio on the 7th floor at 799 7th Avenue in New York City, Brian played the piano, and Phil Ramone, the owner of A&R Records himself, conducted the staff orchestra and engineered the full instrumental version in a single session lasting just 4 hours on June 14th, 1981. The song became the iconic opening of every media campaign featured in over 14K advertisements until the demise of Pan American Airlines in 1991.
This was Brian's first performance as a professional session musician and cemented his position as one of the most versatile multi-instrumentalists in the industry, featured in over 200 recordings for A&R Records from 1981 until 1989 which included collaborations with such artists as Burt Bacharach, Liza Minnelli, Ray Charles, Peter Tosh, Quincy Jones, Barry Manilow and many more...