Jim has the enviable position of being the favored first horn of multiple Oscar winning composer John Williams performing in such films as Always, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Sleepers (in which he received an on-screen credit), Nixon, Schindler’s List, JFK, Sabrina, Home Alone I and II, Rosewood, Seven Years in Tibet and The Patriot as well as the fanfare for the 1992 Olympics. He also works regularly with other Hollywood greats Jerry Goldsmith, Randy Newman, John Barry, James Horner and Alan Silvestri to name a few and can be heard as well in the tracks to Glory, Rocketeer, Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves, Toy Story, Apollo 13, Forrest Gump, First Knight, Hook, as well as Independence Day and the Star Trek movies.

Mr. Thatcher has recently recorded his first solo album, "Now Playing" of which reviewer Chris Huning wrote in the Horn Magazine that "Thatcher shows his supreme mastery of the instrument." Released on the Summit label, this 17 track CD includes Jim’s own transcription of Bach’s Partita No. 1, Five Duets by Brahms (with hornist Amy Jo Rhine), Walter Mays’ Dialogues for Horn and Piano (with pianist Steve Betts) and Four Etudes by Verne Reynolds.