* En anglais uniquement
Johnny Richards was one of the more progressive-minded arrangers of the 1950s and '60s, turning out big, heavily orchestrated scores with a sometimes unabashed use of dissonance and a good feel for Latin rhythms. His music has been called "provocatively colorful," though in the case of his notoriously portentous "Prologue" for the ego-tripping
Stan Kenton, simply the word "provocative" says it all.
Richards grew up in Schenectady, NY, learning piano, violin, banjo, and trumpet; his mother was a concert pianist who had studied with
Paderewski. He started writing film scores, first in London in 1932-1933, and then in Hollywood for the remainder of the decade, as
Victor Young's assistant at Paramount while studying composition with
Arnold Schoenberg. From 1940 to 1945, he led a big band and then returned to Los Angeles to arrange for
Charlie Barnet and
Boyd Raeburn. He also arranged a string album for
Dizzy Gillespie in 1950, along with recording dates with
Sarah Vaughan,
Helen Merrill, and
Sonny Stitt. His most famous association was with
Kenton, with whom he started arranging in 1952;
Kenton's album
Cuban Fire! is an outstandingly flamboyant example of
Richards' work.
Richards continued to lead his own orchestras in 1956-1960 and 1964-1965, recording for Capitol, Coral, Roulette, and Bethlehem, and co-wrote one of
Frank Sinatra's signature songs, "Young at Heart." ~ Richard S. Ginell