Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Don Randi was born Don Schwartz on February 25, 1937 in New York City and raised in the Catskill Mountains, where he received training in classical music. After his father’s death in 1954, he and his mother moved to Los Angeles, California and the following year he started working at a record distribution company where he heard and became influenced by jazz musicians, particularly Horace Silver.

He began his career as a professional pianist and keyboard player in 1956, gradually establishing a reputation as a leading session musician. By the early 1960s, he was a major contributor, as musician and arranger, to record producer Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. He became a member of Nancy Sinatra’s touring band for decades and also played piano on These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ as well as every album she recorded, and played on the Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations.

Playing on over three hundred hit records, Don worked with musicians such as Gerald Wilson, Quincy Jones, Cannonball Adderley, Herb Alpert, Sarah Vaughan, Linda Ronstadt and Frank Zappa. He recorded a number albums of piano jazz under his own name and as the leader of a trio with Leroy Vinnegar and Mel Lewis between 1960 and 1968 that included Feelin’ Like Blues, Where Do We Go From Here, Last Night, Revolver Jazz, and Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet. He also wrote film scores for Bloody Mama, Up in the Cellar, J. W. Coop, Stacey, and Santee in the Seventies.

In 1970 he opened The Baked Potato jazz club in Studio City, California, and forming his own group, Quest, serving as the house band. The band subsequently recorded over 15 albums and were nominated for a Grammy in 1980 for the album New Baby. In 2008, as a member of the Wrecking Crew, Randi was inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk.and in 2010 the club was named Best Jazz Club in Los Angeles magazine. Pianist, bandleader and songwriter Don Randi continues to perform, record and releasing his own jazz records.

Sponsored By

  #preserving genius

More Posts: piano