Acclaimed Film Producer and Adroit Jazz Drummer Richard Baratta’s First Studio Release – Music in Film: The Reel Deal is Available Now
The movie-music project featuring Vincent Herring, Paul Bollenback, Michael Goatz and Paul Rossman has smashed the streaming services, with 400,000 plays so far on Spotify
“…this prize-winning music and concept ties the two lives together of Richard Baratta (film maker and jazz drummer) in a beautiful way. He plays all styles with ease and spontaneity… Richard Baratta is back and in full force!” – LA Based Jazz Journalist Dee Dee McNeil
Film Producer and Drummer Richard Baratta’s sophomore release as a bandleader and first release in a studio setting, Music in Film: The Reel Deal, was released on September 25, 2020 on Savant records. Since its release just over a month ago, the album has collected over 400,000 total streams on Spotify, with the track “Alfie” coming in at over 350,000 streams and “Peter Gunn” with over 20,000. Music in Film: The Reel Deal is the drummer’s triumphant return to the jazz artform after a 30+ year diversion during which time Baratta became a celebrated film producer of Hollywood hits like The Irishman, Joker, and Wolf of Wall Street. This album sees the coalescence of Baratta’s two seemingly disparate worlds, a celebration of cinema through the lens of jazz. Spotify has celebrated the album as its tracks are featured on a dozen of their playlists. The Reel Deal has also piqued the interest of hundreds of Spotify users, with features on over 400 personal user playlists. The project features songs that were notably used in major motion pictures, films such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Midnight Cowboy, Big and The Wizard of Oz. Pianist Bill O’Connell serves as Music Director; Carroll Scott lends his vocal prowess to a rendition of “Seasons of Love” from Rent; saxophone luminary Vincent Herring adorns the albums tracks with alto and soprano saxophone, as well as flute; and guitar virtuoso Paul Bollenback, bassist Michael Goetz, percussionist Paul Rossman round out Baratta’s steadfast rhythm section.
Read all about Music in Film in the forthcoming Winter edition of Jazziz Magazine, and check out this feature interview with Baratta and film legend Andy Garcia on Jazziz’s Last Call show with Brian Zimmerman.
While Music in Film… is his proper studio debut recording, Baratta’s association with jazz goes back decades. Baratta was born into a musical household in Poughkeepsie, New York where he began his journey as a drummer. He spent his post-collegiate time studying with Jack DeJohnette and playing in the Catskills before arriving in New York City in 1975 where he would strike up fruitful associations with such jazz greats as Saxophonist John Stubblefield, guitarist Vernon Reid and pianist Hal Galper. For the next decade, Baratta embraced the lifestyle of the career musician; gigging consistently to make ends meet. It was the desire for stability that spawned Baratta’s farewell to jazz and foray into the film industry.
From 1984, when he took a job scouting locations for Desperately Seeking Susan, to 2019, when filming wrapped on Joker, Baratta, who climbed from the position of location scout all the way to executive producer, was ensconced in movies. His work figured into more than 50 films—Donnie Brasco, 5 SPIDERMAN FILMS, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman included—and he became a known quantity in the business.
A chance encounter with a club owner who was transforming the former commissary basement of Kaufman Astoria Studios which dated back to the silent films of the 1920’s into a music club called ‘The Astor Room’, rekindled Baratta’s desire to return to his drumseat and perform live once again. It was there that Baratta began his musical collaboration with guitarist Paul Bollenback and bassist Michael Goetz. Other jazz greats such as Eric Alexander, David Kikoski and Walter Blanding filtered in and out and eventually, Baratta established the working band that is heard here on his seminal work.
From the album’s very first track, “Luck Be a Lady”, the band’s unquestionable chemistry is displayed. On this nod to the masking scene in Mrs. Doubtfire, Bill O’Connell’s adamant pianistic refrains fall perfectly in the pocket with the tasteful samba groove laid down by Baratta and enhanced by Goetz and Rossman. From here, the band shifts gears with a shuffling rewrite on “Everybody’s Talkin’” of Midnight Cowboy fame. The band shows their stunning facility in a swing context on this piece, Herring’s saxophone soars over the rhythm’s section locked in full swing. Bollenback’s sparse guitar musings under Herring’s stellar melodic invention offer the perfect balance and depth to this piece.
O’Connell’s killer Latin arrangement of the Euphemia Allen composition “Chopsticks”, pays tribute to the classic Tom Hanks-Robert Loggia piano dance scene from the movie Big which Baratta worked on. The band blazes through a bright-tempoed montuno, adding melodic and rhythmic intrigue to the classic piano piece. “Seasons of Love” puts guest vocalist Carroll Scott at center-stage for a lights-are-low take on Rent’s most beloved song. “Come Together” winks at Baratta’s work on the film Across the Universe, adding some funk and New Orleans grime-and-groove to the music. The final third of the album offers audiences more brilliant adaptations of songs borrowed from the world of cinema. “Peter Gunn”, the band’s only track pulled from television, is an up-tempo swing tune with post-bop panache. The band ventures on with a haunting, reharmonized version of “Maria” from West Side Story, a gorgeous arrangement of “The Sound of Music” and a sunny “Let the River Run”, reborn in seven, closing things out while acknowledging Baratta’s work on the film Working Girl.
Regarding the future of this working ensemble, Baratta notes “Being away as long as I’ve been away, and then to be in the fold with some of these musicians I’ve been playing with, I’m like a kid in a candy store,” he shares. “It’s wonderful for me, so I just want to keep it going. That’s all.”
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