Emil Richards

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Emil Richards (* 2 September 1932 in Hartford , Connecticut ; born Emilio Joseph Radocchia ; † 14. December 2019 ) was an American jazz - percussionist . Richards' preferred instrument was the vibraphone , but he also mastered the marimba , lamellophone , timpani and fancy percussion instruments from around the world, of which he owned a large collection.

In addition to his solo career, he has worked as a live and studio musician with Frank Zappa , Hugh Masekela , Frank Sinatra , Perry Como , Dizzy Gillespie , Judy Garland , Sarah Vaughan and Doris Day , among others . He has also worked on numerous film scores and soundtracks from TV series.

As the first major musical influence Richards described the long-playing records of the vibraphone virtuoso Lionel Hampton , with whose help he trained his own musical skills.

Youth and early career until 1959

Emil Richards, who was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, began playing the xylophone at the age of six . At the same time, he became friends with his classmate Joe Porcaro , who later became a successful jazz drummer and percussionist himself and has worked with Richards on many projects. As a child he met well-known drummers such as Gene Krupa , Cozy Cole , Gus Johnson and his idol Lionel Hampton in the studio of his music teacher Adolf Cardello . As a teenager he played with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for a time under the musical direction of Fritz Mahler and attended the Hartt School of Music from 1949 to 1952 , which has been part of the University of Hartford since 1957 .

After his sophomore year of college, Richards was drafted into the US Army in 1953 and served as the second band leader in an army orchestra stationed in Japan . At this time he also met the Japanese pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi , the jazz saxophonist Sadao Watanabe and the drummer JC Heard , who was then living in Japan, and played with them. After his return, Richards moved to New York in 1955 , where he first played in a quartet with Ed Shaughnessy , Charles Mingus and Flip Phillips , before taking over the vibraphone in George Shearing's jazz quintet for several years . a. played with Toots Thielemans , Percy Brice , Armando Peraza and Al McKibbon . Richards emphasizes that he has never learned more about Afro-Cuban music than at that time with Al McKibbon as his teacher, who in turn had learned a lot from Chano Pozo on previous tours .

Through the recommendation of a drummer friend, Richards made his first experiences as a studio musician and worked on recordings for Perry Como . Other recordings followed with Mongo Santamaría and his bandleader George Shearing, the Richards on the album In The Night 1958 with the opening track, From Rags to Richards his reverence proved.

Career from 1959

In 1959, Richards moved to Los Angeles and initially joined the Paul Horn Quintet . In the 1960s and 70s he toured with musicians as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar . He also worked with these musicians in the recording studio. For example, Richards can be heard on Zappa's first solo LP Lumpy Gravy and on Sinatra's live albums from Paris and Tokyo from 1962. After Sinatra's return from world tour in 1962, he worked for the Beach Boys , Bing Crosby , Ray Charles and Nat King Cole, among others . In the decades that followed, Richards traveled frequently to South America, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean to study local music and find new instruments for his collection. In the mid-1960s, Richards was particularly interested in Indian rhythms, which he u. a. through Harihar Rao had met. This interest led to the founding of the Hindustani Jazz Sextet in 1965 together with Don Ellis . In addition, in the following decades he was one of the most sought-after studio musicians in the field of percussion music and worked with musicians from a wide variety of musical genres .

From 1963, Richards was friends with the pioneer of microtonal music and instrument maker Harry Partch . He helped him move to Los Angeles the following year and regularly supported him with his stage presentations. As a result, Richards experimented with microtonal music himself, e.g. B. on the two albums Journey To Bliss from 1968 and Spirit Of 1976 from 1969. From the 1990s onwards Richards released further solo LPs - this time from the field of Latin jazz , among others with his old friends Dave MacKay , Francisco Aguabella and Joe Porcaro . At Ritmico Mondo - Wonderful World of Percussion from 1994, he presented many of the instruments in his collection by accompanying himself - with the help of up to 25 overdubs - and thus demonstrating the possibilities of percussive music.

Richards has participated in more than 25 Oscar -Verleihungen as a musician with and was a studio musician in the recording numerous soundtracks of TV series and feature films, such. B. in the series Flintstones , Bonanza , Falcon Crest , Kobra, Take Over , Cagney & Lacey , The Denver Clan , Beavis and Butt-Head and the scores for Pirates of the Caribbean , Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom , Waterworld , Ghostbusters , Loads of Trouble , Poltergeist , Star Trek - and the Planet of the Apes films. In total, Richards is said to have been involved in over 1,350 film and TV soundtracks.

Richards usually played instruments from his sponsors Paiste and Yamaha when he was not using one of the many instruments from his collection. He has received multiple awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for his services as a studio musician and was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Percussive Arts Society in 1994 .

Discography (selection)

As Emil Richards

  • Yazz Per Favore (1961, CD: 2002), with Al McKibbon , Paul Moer , Francisco Aguabella et al. as Emil Richards' Yazz Band
  • New Time Element (1967)
  • Journey To Bliss (1968, Impulse! Records ) as Emil Richards & the Microtonal Blues Band
  • Spirit Of 1976 (1969, Impulse! Records)
  • Wonderful World of Percussion (1994, Interworld Music)
  • Ritmico Mondo - Wonderful World of Percussion (1994, Interworld Music)
  • Luntana (1996, Interworld Music), with Joe Porcaro , Francisco Aguabella, Al McKibbon, Chuck Domanico and Dave MacKay
  • Calamari - Live Jazz at Rocco's (2000, Emil Richards Music), with Joe Porcaro
  • Emil Richards With the Jazz Knights (2000, Emil Richards Music), with the West Point Army Jazz Band
  • Maui Jazz Quartet - featuring Emil Richards (2006, Emil Richards Music)

Participation as a studio or live musician, among others

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Emil Richards Death, Obituary: Percussion Legend Passed Away. Market News, December 16, 2019, accessed December 16, 2019 .
  2. ^ Billboard. P. 50. limited preview in Google Book search
  3. ↑ a b Emil Richards. (No longer available online.) In: emilrichards.com. Archived from the original on April 19, 2013 ; accessed on January 2, 2015 .
  4. ↑ George Shearing - In the Night on Allmusic (English)
  5. ^ Peter Lavezzoli: The Dawn of Indian Music in the West. A&C Black, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8264-1815-9 , p. 302 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  6. ^ Giacchino Outtakes II: Emil Richards. In: The New Yorker. May 13, 2010, accessed January 2, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Luntana at Allmusic (English)
  8. ↑ Ritmico Mondo at Allmusic (English)
  9. ^ Partial list of Emil Richard's activities as a studio musician (see pp. 1–5) on allmusic.com
personal data
SURNAME Richards, Emil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Radocchia, Emilio Joseph (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American percussionist and studio musician
DATE OF BIRTH September 2, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Hartford , Connecticut
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 2019