Richard Baratta - LYDIALIEBMAN.COM

Another Kind of Bird
Release date: May 22, 2026
Label: Savant Records

Another Kind of Bird is the compelling new album from drummer and bandleader Richard Baratta. His fifth recording for the label finds Baratta revisiting music associated with Charlie Parker, reimagining the repertoire through inventive new arrangements and a forward-looking ensemble approach. Baratta’s standout band features GRAMMY-nominated pianist and arranger Bill O’Connell, saxophonist Vincent Herring, guitarist Paul Bollenback, bassist Michael Goetz, and percussionist Paul Rossman and special guest saxophonists Eric Alexander, Abraham Burton, and Craig Handy.

A musician long before he became a film producer, Richard Baratta has built a career defined by range and reinvention. He began playing professionally more than four decades ago, performing with big bands and ensembles around New York before transitioning into film, where he became a highly respected producer with credits including The Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman, Joker, and several Spider-Man films. In 2020, Baratta returned decisively to the bandstand with Music in Film: The Reel Deal, reimagining iconic movie themes in a dynamic jazz setting. The album proved both a commercial and artistic success, amassing millions of streams and reestablishing him as a serious presence in the contemporary jazz landscape. Its follow-up, Music in Film: The Sequel, continued that momentum, and in the years since, Baratta has recorded two additional albums for Savant Records, expanding his repertoire beyond film-inspired projects and further defining his voice as a bandleader committed to exploration and growth.

It will then come as no surprise that Richard Baratta has never been interested in standing still. “I don’t want to continue to make those records,” he has said of conventional straight-ahead projects. “I want to keep challenging myself. Keep moving. I’m looking for the next thing.” That restless creative drive defines his latest release, Another Kind of Bird, a bold reimagining of music associated with Charlie Parker that serves less as tribute than as reinvention.

Rather than treating the material as sacred text, Baratta approached it as living language. Working with longtime collaborator, arranger, and pianist Bill O’Connell, he set out to explore the repertoire from a fresh vantage point. “Bill’s such a great arranger and player; the ideas just flow from his brain,” Baratta says. Their fourth recording together reflects a deep musical trust. After shaping and refining O’Connell’s initial drafts, the pair arrived at what Baratta calls “a reimagination of Charlie Parker” — one that balances reverence with risk.

The result is music that moves fluidly across post-bop drive, Latin-inflected grooves, and flashes of rock-tinged energy, yet remains cohesive and focused. For Baratta, innovation must coexist with accessibility. He speaks candidly about attracting listeners without “compromising the music to the extent that it’s not that music anymore.” Experience, he believes, brings clarity. Each project builds upon the last, guided by a deeper musical awareness and a willingness to stretch beyond expectation.

One of Baratta’s most ambitious decisions on Another Kind of Bird was expanding his customary sextet to feature a larger saxophone front line on selected tracks. The added horns bring power and dimension, amplifying both the rhythmic thrust and the harmonic color of the arrangements. “In the history of jazz, nobody has made more of an impact than Parker,” Baratta explains, “so I thought I’d pay homage by adding more horns.” The result is an ensemble sound that feels both urgent and expansive.

Equally important is the choice of musicians Baratta has assembled. He selected Vincent Herring, Eric Alexander, Craig Handy, and Abraham Burton not only for their formidable reputations but for the musical rapport developed over years of collaboration. “They’re some of the greatest jazz musicians and sax players on the planet,” he says, adding with a grin that they are “freakin’ monsters on their horns.” Each is a respected bandleader in his own right, and together they form a collective capable of dynamic interplay and commanding presence.

Baratta’s artistic independence has long been a defining trait. He often describes the music business as “brutal,” and credits the stability of his career in film production with allowing him to pursue projects on his own terms. That freedom is audible here. Another Kind of Bird is not a museum piece, but a statement of intent from a bandleader committed to growth, collaboration, and fearless reinterpretation.

Looking Back
Release date: February 21, 2025
Label: Savant Records

Looking Back is the exciting new album from drummer-bandleader Richard Baratta. As the title suggests, on his fourth album for Savant, Baratta takes listeners down a nostalgic road of classic rock and soul recordings from the mid to late 1960's, and reimagines them in a riveting jazz setting. Baratta’s ace band includes the great GRAMMY nominated pianist-arranger Bill O’Connell, saxophonist Vincent Herring, guitarist Paul Bollenback, bassist Michael Goetz, percussionist Paul Rossman and special guest vocalist Carol Scott.

A man capable of wearing many hats, Richard Baratta has worn several during his varied career, which has taken him from the bandstand to movie sets and back again. Baratta began his musical career nearly 40 years ago, playing with various big bands and ensembles across New York before falling into movie-making, eventually becoming an established, sought-after producer with The Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman, Joker, and several Spider-Man films among his credits. In 2020, Baratta formally returned to music with his label debut, Music in Film: The Reel Deal, on which the drummer reimagined some of his favorite film music in an invigorating jazz setting. A commercial triumph (evidenced by nearly 4 million streams on Spotify), the album went on to gain a GRAMMY nomination for pianist Bill O’Connell’s smart arrangement of “Chopsticks”. Baratta’s follow up album, Music in Film: The Sequel followed and the streams and positive reviews continued to accumulate. His third album, Off The Charts, explored a new formula for the New York-area drummer - this time, instead of movie music, he decided to look to the 60’s and 70’s for guidance, choosing lesser-known compositions by inspirational jazz greats from the period. Looking Back employs a similar approach, but now, the music may be a bit more recognizable: James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan are the composers.

“My primary attraction was to “jazz,” but rock, soul, and funk were not far behind, or I would have missed out on hundreds of teen parties,” Baratta commented when reflecting on the influences of his youth. Looking Back reimagines ten mid-late classic popular hits, its repertoire carefully chosen by Baratta and O’Connell.

Baratta, together with his working band, explores such tunes as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Purple Haze,” “I Feel Good,” “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “Respect,” and other rock mega-hits. With a real all-star ensemble on hand, the arrangements by pianist Bill O'Connell are thoroughly swinging affairs with a fresh, unique approach and a funky Latin Jazz feel. As with his Music in Film series, Richard Baratta proves himself to be a gifted innovator at transforming familiar, and often surprising, material into vibrant jazz performances that bring new concepts to these truly iconic tunes and underline their timeless appeal.

“As I got into it, each tune had its own character,” the pianist said. “I'd run it by Rich, and he'd say, ‘Let's give it a shot.’ It was really finding the direction that we wanted to go in for each tune that made it challenging and rewarding.”

Highlights include Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” on which Baratta’s drums pan from right to left, mimicking Jimmy Page’s guitar on the 1969 original. The group’s updated version retains an aggressive tone and opens up about halfway through for Bollenback and O’Connell to stretch out. Altoist Vincent Herring mostly serves here as punctuation to the song’s melody.

The sextet also took on Otis Redding’s “Respect” — a tune that’d be difficult to render as anything other than swinging. But after about a minute of the reworked number, Herring’s barrelling solo transforms the composition. O’Connell’s comping and bassist Michael Goetz keep the band in line, as Baratta, Bollenback and percussionist Paul Rossman daub color on to the proceedings.

“When it comes to playing bebop or straight-ahead music, that's Vincent,” Baratta said about the saxophonist, who appeared on two of the bandleader’s earlier albums. “When you give him a vehicle like ‘Respect,’ you just say, ‘Here's 32 bars, take two choruses.’ I mean, he's instant offense.”

Perhaps less transfigured, but no less in the pocket, is the troupe’s take on The Mamas & the Papas’ “California Dreamin’.” Everyone from Wes Montgomery to Diana Krall have recorded versions of the tune, but Baratta never internalized those interpretations.

The bandleader described the tune’s flute solo as revolutionary when he first heard it. “It was just something that I dug listening to,” the bandleader said. “I was listening to jazz at the time — to Trane and Miles — but I was always listening to rock.” “Hey Jude” follows a few tracks later, reinforcing the drummer’s rock proclivities while also exhibiting a bit of the ensemble’s sensitive side. The arrangement again showcases O’Connell’s impulse to filigree tunes with a Latin feel.

If Looking Back is Baratta searching for new challenges and inspiration, he continues to rely on a sturdy premise to creating accessible art. “There's something here that people can easily grasp,” the bandleader said about his latest effort including a constellation of familiar tunes. “I'm an entertainer and a messenger. I like seeing people feel good, and I want my music to transform them. If I can do that, I've accomplished a lot of what drives me to play music.”

Off The Charts
Release date: August 25, 2023
Label: Savant Records

Off The Chartsis the thrilling new album from acclaimed drummer and bandleader Richard Baratta. On his third release for Savant, the “lively [and] adroit” (Euan Dixon, Jazz Views) musician shifts gears from the movie-music repertoire that fueled his previous two efforts, and instead turns his musical prowess to a collection of lesser-known compositions by inspirational jazz greats. To bring his musical vision to life, Baratta assembled an A-list cast of musicians including saxophone ace Jerry Bergonzi, acclaimed pianist David Kikoski, veteran bassist John Patitucci and dazzling percussionist Paul Rossman.

“I really wanted to focus on music that I loved while growing up,” the New York-area drummer explains. “And I was thinking specifically about pieces I liked that weren’t the most popular numbers on some of these records—the tunes that weren’t as well publicized or listened to or re-recorded by other musicians, but were really outstanding in their own way.” When selecting the music for Off The Charts, Baratta mined the catalog of his youth, focusing on the 1960’s and 1970’s. A period full of intense musical creativity and experimentation, Baratta counts these years as some of the most important in his artistic development. “The music was exploding with emerging geniuses and an energy I’ve seldom seen since,” he recounts. To honor this prolific time, Baratta handpicked what he calls “hidden treasures”; somewhat overlooked gems by the likes of Bobby Hutcherson, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, and more.

Hutcherson’s “Herzog” is the album opener. “I remember hearing and instantly loving this tune, and later wondering why nobody really played it or recorded it,” Baratta says of the tune, which debuted on Hutcherson’s 1969 Blue Note album Total Eclipse. Gears change on the bossa-tinged, Patitucci spotlight “Molten Glass” by Joe Ferrell before downshifting to the simple beauty of Alec Wilder and Loonis McGlonohon’s “Blackberry Winter”. Continuing on, Baratta gives Kikoski his due on “Peresina,” acknowledging a love of Latin music and the influence of McCoy Tyner’s Expansions (Blue Note, 1970), and goes full-on funky for Joe Henderson’s “Afro-Centric,” where the pianist plugs in and Patitucci nods to Ron Carter’s rare use of electric bass on Power to the People (Milestone, 1970).

An air of mystery pervades Wayne Shorter’s “Lost” (from The Soothsayer, Blue Note, 1979), before moving into a brilliant rendition of Charles Lloyd’s “Sombrero Sam”. Chick Corea’s moderate swinger “Tones for Joan’s Bones” is the penultimate track, leading to Harold Arlen and Johnny Burke’s “Out of This World,” honoring the rendition from Coltrane (Impulse!, 1962) with buoyant Afro-Latin underpinnings and marked intensity.

With the exception of Charles Lloyd, all the composers represented on this recording have passed. However, the music lives on, as fresh as if it were written and recorded yesterday. “It’s a great privilege to honor these talented giants of yesteryear and let their music live on,” Baratta reflects.

Off The Charts represents an important artistic shift for Baratta, who has spent the last few years marrying his highly successful 35-year career as a movie producer with his musical ambitions. It’s been a recipe for success. His debut album Music In Film: The Reel Deal (2021) was a commercial triumph (evidenced by over 3.6 million streams on Spotify) and went on to gain a GRAMMY nomination for pianist Bill O’Connell’s smart arrangement of “Chopsticks”. Baratta’s sophomore album, Music in Film: The Sequel, confirmed this was not some fluke, as the streams and positive reviews continued to collect.

But for his third act, Baratta felt compelled to do something different. “The music and film dates were great, but there’s a lot more to this for me than just playing movie tunes,” he admits. “And in this instance, I really wanted to encompass many different kinds of music, from loose jazz to straight-ahead sounds to Latin grooves to funk-rock. Those were the elements that were in play in the ‘60s and ‘70s. So rather than work with one particular style, I wanted to be faithful to that time period and my experiences by exploring all of them. Having the opportunity to do all of that and share in the act of creation with these amazing musicians is a blessing. It’s a major gift that I don’t take for granted.” It’s a gift to the listeners too, who now get to experience a new side of Richard Baratta on this inspired and ebullient new offering.

Music in Film: The Sequel
Release date: September 9, 2022
Label: Savant Records

Drummer Richard Baratta presents his sophomore studio album Music in Film: The Sequel. A follow up to his 2020 studio debut Music in Film: The Reel Deal, which went on to earn a GRAMMY nomination for arranger and pianist Bill O’Connell and racked up over 3,000,000 streams on Spotify, Baratta’s latest once again fuses the worlds of cinema and jazz in a way that is decidedly modern and fresh. With Baratta at the helm in the drum chair, O’Connell returns as pianist and arranger alongside jazz heavyweights Vincent Herring (alto saxophone), Paul Bollenback (guitar), Michael Goetz (bass) and Paul Rossman (percussion). Over the course of 11 tracks, this top-tier ensemble gives award-worthy treatments to familiar melodies from Austin Powers, Star Wars, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and more.

Prior to 2020, Richard Baratta was known primarily as a successful film producer. He has dozens of films under his belt, including six Spider Man installments, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman, and countless others. But In the 1970’s, Baratta was a young drummer on the New York City loft scene, performing with the likes of John Stubblefield, Vernon Reid and Hal Galper. Living from gig to gig had its moments, but when the opportunity came in 1984 to get into the film industry (as a location scout for Desperately Seeking Susan), the financial security was hard to pass up. His career in film flourished, and to date he has dozens of famous movie titles to his credit.

Even when fully-immersed in the film world, Baratta’s first love for jazz never dwindled. In 2020, Baratta decided to formally re-enter the jazz world with the release of Music in Film: The Reel Deal. Baratta and band’s take on movie-music classics like “Alfie”, “Chopsticks” and “Peter Gunn” propelled the album to soaring heights, including to a GRAMMY nomination for O’Connell in the Instrumental Arrangement category for “Chopsticks”. “Alfie” and “Peter Gunn” were certified hits on streaming services, with especially impressive streaming numbers on Spotify and Amazon. The album received rounds of praise, and the fall edition of Jazziz Magazine that year featured Baratta in a glossy spread.

With all the accolades, a sequel was inevitable. Soon after the first album wrapped, Baratta and the group were right back in the studio for round two – and the results were glistening and varied. There’s the Latin-tinged “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, which first appeared in Mike Nichols’ Heartburn (one of Baratta’s first big productions), on which solos from Bollenback and Herring dazzle, and “Soul Bossa Nova” from the Austin Powers franchise. On this mid-tempo cha-cha, the solos by O’Connell, Baratta and Rossman play up the Afro-Cuban element while Herring’s solo reminds listeners that this Quincy Jones tune is also a blues.

Another selection that draws from Baratta’s rich film background is Henry Mancini’s “Theme from The Pink Panther” (Baratta worked on the 2006 reboot). This one is a hard-charging swing, with Baratta’s solo really cutting loose. A veteran of Gato Barbieri’s band, O’Connell suggested the saxophonist’s stirring theme from “Last Tango in Paris,” here rendered in 5/4 time. Bollenback, Herring, and O’Connell take monster turns in the spotlight, but keep one ear on Baratta and Rossman’s accompaniment as they chew the odd meter to bits.

Baratta’s selected the title track of the 1945 comedy Out of This World because the John Coltrane Quartet’s 1962 rendition of the tune was his “gateway to jazz”. His rendition offers a different take with its otherworldly guitar lines, though Baratta certainly takes some cues from Elvin Jones, notably in his stickwork. The dreamy “Pure Imagination” slows things down tenderly, and things kick up again with the straight-ahead shuffle “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”, Randy Newman’s theme from Toy Story. Sure-to-please tracks include the fun “Cantina Band” from the Star Wars megaverse which showcases a gleeful duel between Bollenback and Herring, and the New Orleans-style twist on the traditional “Man of Constant Sorrow”, which features on one of Baratta’s favorite films, O Brother, Where Art Thou. The trio treatment of Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” (included here because it’s in Joker, another film Baratta notably worked on) is a high point, before jaunting into “Volley for Jabali”, written by Baratta himself and the only original composition here, written as a tribute to NEA Jazz Master drummer Billy ‘Jabali’ Hart.

While the album closer hints that Baratta may take on more original music next time around, the drummer-producer is already picking out the next cinema-centric tunes to make it a trilogy. Until then, film buffs and jazz lovers alike can rejoice with Music in Film: The Sequel, which is sure to be another blockbuster.

Music in Film: The Reel Deal
Release date: September 25, 2020
Label: Savant Records

Music in Film: The Reel Deal is film producer and drummer Richard Baratta's sophomore release as a bandleader, and first release in a studio setting. This project 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. 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.

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.”