Don Randi
Don Randi | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, U.S. | February 25, 1937
Genres | Pop, rock, jazz |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Keyboards |
Years active | 1956–present |
Don Randi (born February 25, 1937) is an American keyboard player, bandleader, and songwriter who was a member of the Wrecking Crew.
Career
Don was born February 25, 1937, in New York City.[1] He was raised in the Catskill Mountains and studied classical music.[2] In 1954, he moved to Los Angeles and became a studio musician.[2] During the next year, he began working at record distribution company where he was influenced by jazz musicians, particularly Horace Silver.[3]
He began his career as a pianist and keyboard player in 1956, gradually establishing a reputation as a leading session musician. In the early 1960s, he was musician and arranger for record producer
In 1970, he opened
In 2008, as a member of the Wrecking Crew, Randi was inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk.[5][6]
Discography
As leader
- Feelin' Like Blues (World Pacific, 1960)
- Where Do We Go from Here? (Verve, 1962)
- Last Night/with the Don Randi Trio (Verve, 1962)
- Mexican Pearls (Palomar, 1965)
- Revolver Jazz (Reprise, 1966)
- Live On the Sunset Strip! (Reprise, 1967)
- 3 in the Cellar (American International, 1970)
- At the Baked Potato (Poppy, 1972)
- Don Randi & the Baked Potato Band (JAS, 1975)
- Bermuda Triangle (Dobre, 1978)
- New Baby (Sheffield Lab, 1979)
- California 84 (Bee Pee, 1983)
- Baked Potato Shuffle (Baked Potato, 1988)
- Don't Look Back (Headfirst, 1989)
- Wind and Sea (Headfirst, 1990)
As sideman
With David Axelrod
- Songs of Experience (Capitol, 1969)
- Earth Rot (Capitol, 1970)
- Strange Ladies (MCA, 1977)
- David Axelrod (Mo Wax, 2001)
With others
- Susie Allanson, Susie Allanson (ABC, 1976)
- Harold Betters, Funk City Express (Reprise, 1966)
- Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, Zip-A-Dee Doo Dah (Philles, 1976)
- Pat Boone, Texas Woman (Hitsville, 1976)
- James Brown, It's a New Day So Let a Man Come In (King, 1970)
- James Brown, Get On the Good Foot (Polydor, 1993)
- Roy Brown, Hard Times (Bluesway, 1973)
- Thumbs Carllile, On His Own (Gemini, 1973)
- Jerry Cole, Outer Limits (Capitol, 1963)
- Cass Elliot, Cass Elliot (RCA Victor, 1972)
- England Dan & John Ford Coley, Fables (A&M, 1972)
- Gale Garnett, Gale Garnett Sings About Flying & Rainbows & Love & Other Groovy Things (RCA Victor, 1967)
- Lee Hazlewood, The N.S.V.I.P.'s (Reprise, 1964)
- Lee Hazlewood, Love and Other Crimes (Reprise, 1968)
- Jack Jones, What I Did for Love (RCA Victor, 1975)
- Dean Martin, Once in a While (Reprise, 1978)
- Bette Midler, Broken Blossom (Atlantic, 1977)
- The Monkees, Listen to the Band (Rhino, 1991)
- Sandy Nelson, Rock 'n' Roll Revival (Imperial, 1968)
- Jack Nitzsche, The Lonely Surfer (Reprise, 1963)
- Michelle Phillips, Victim of Romance (A&M, 1990)
- Elvis Presley, NBC-TV Special (RCA, 1991)
- Michael Quatro, Gettin' Ready (Prodigal, 1977)
- Emitt Rhodes, The American Dream (A&M, 1970)
- Nelson Riddle, Contemporary Sound of Nelson Riddle (United Artists, 1968)
- Tommy Roe, Beginnings (ABC, 1971)
- The Ronettes, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica (Philles, 1964)
- Nancy Sinatra, Sugar (Reprise, 1966)
- Stone Poneys, Evergreen Vol. 2 (Capitol, 1967)
- Townes Van Zandt, Our Mother the Mountain (Poppy, 1969)
- Stephanie Winslow, Crying (Warner Bros., 1980)
Notable singles
Based on information from Randi’s book, You’ve Heard These Hands.[7]
Charting for singles is on the US singles charts.[8]
Artist | Title | Date & highest position on US charts |
Miscellaneous |
---|---|---|---|
The Beach Boys | “God Only Knows” | #39, 9/17/66 | |
The Beach Boys | “Good Vibrations" | #1, 10/29/66 | |
The Beach Boys | “ Help Me Rhonda "
|
# 1, 5/01/65 | |
The Beach Boys | “Wouldn't It Be Nice" | #8, 8/20/65 | |
Buffalo Springfield | “Broken Arrow” | Released 11/18/67 | produced and arranged by Jack Nitzsche |
Glen Campbell | “I'm Not Gonna Miss You” | released on September 30, 2014 | for the soundtrack to the documentary Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me, the last song Campbell recorded |
The Crystals | “He's a Rebel" | #1, 10/06/62 | produced by Phil Spector, #2 R&B[9] |
The Crystals | “Da Doo Ron Ron” | #3, 5/11/63 | # 5 R&B [citation needed] |
The Crystals | "Then He Kissed Me" | #6, 8/31/63 | #8 R&B [citation needed] |
Sammy Davis Jr. | “The Candy Man” | #1, 10/6/72 | |
Neil Diamond | “Cracklin' Rosie” | #1, 8/29/70 | |
Lesley Gore | “ It’s My Party "
|
#1, 5/18/63 | #1 R&B,[citation needed] produced by Quincy Jones, arranged byJack Nietzsche |
The Jackson 5 | “ABC" | #1, 3/21/70 | #1 R&B[citation needed] |
Jan and Dean | “Popsicle” | #21, 6/18/66 | |
Ben E. King | “Spanish Harlem“ | #10, 1/30/61 | #15 R&B[citation needed] |
Dean Martin | “Everybody Loves Somebody” | #1, 7/11/64 | |
Barry McGuire | "Eve of Destruction"[10] | #1, 8/28/65 | |
Jack Nitzsche | “The Lonely Surfer” | #39, 9/7/63 | |
Laura Nyro | “Save the Country” | ||
The Paris Sisters | “I Love How You Love Me” | #5, 10/2/61 | |
Ray Peterson | “ Corinna, Corinna ”
|
#9, 12/19/60 | |
Elvis Presley | “A Little Less Conversation" | ||
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap | “Young Girl" | #2, 3/16/68 | |
Gary Puckettt and the Union Gap | “Lady Willpower” | #2, 6/22/68 | |
The Righteous Brothers | “You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" | #1, 12/26/64 | #2 R&B [citation needed] |
The Righteous Brothers | “Ebb Tide” | #5, 12/11/65 | #13 R&B[citation needed] |
The Righteous Brothers | “Unchained Melody” | #4, 7/31/65 | #6 R&B[citation needed] |
The Ronettes | Be My Baby | #7, 4/30/66 | #4[citation needed] |
Diana Ross | “Touch Me in the Morning” | #1, 7/7/73 | #5 R&B[citation needed] |
Frank and Nancy Sinatra | “Somethin' Stupid” | #1, 3/25/67 | |
Nancy Sinatra | “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” | #1, 2/5/66 | |
Nancy Sinatra | "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?" | #7, 4/30/66 | |
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood | “Jackson” | # 14, 7/8/67 | |
O.C. Smith
|
“The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp” | #40, 4/20/68 | #32 R&B[citation needed] |
Sonny and Cher
|
“I Got You Babe” | #1, 7/31/65 | #19 R&B [citation needed] |
The Spiral Staircase | “More Today Than Yesterday” | #12, 5/3/69 | |
Stone Poneys | “Different Drum” | #13, 12/9/67 | lead vocals Linda Ronstadt |
Hank Williams Jr. | “Family Tradition” |
Notable albums
A list of notable albums that Randi played on.[7][11]
Artist | Title | Date & highest position on US charts |
Miscellaneous |
---|---|---|---|
The Association | And Then... Along Comes the Association | #5, 10/01/66 | |
The Beach Boys | Pet Sounds | #10, 06/11/66 | |
The Beach Boys | The Smile Sessions | ||
Buffalo Springfield | Buffalo Springfield Again | Released 11/18/67 | |
Tim Buckley | Goodbye and Hello | Released September 1967 | |
Leonard Cohen | Death of a Ladies Man | Released November 13, 1977 | produced by Phil Spector |
Neil Diamond | Tap Root Manuscript | #13, 11/21/70 | |
The Electric Prunes | Mass in F Minor | arranged by David Axelrod | |
Cass Elliot | The Road is No Place for a Lady | ||
The Jackson 5 | ABC | #4, 6/6/70 | |
Love | The Best of Love | ||
The Monkees | The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees
|
#3, 5/18/68 | |
The Monkees | More of the Monkees | #1, 2/11/67 | |
Michael Nesmith | The Wichita Train Whistle Sings | ||
Mickey Newbury | An American Trilogy | ||
Harry Nilsson | The Point! | #25, 4/10/71 | |
Michelle Phillips | Victim of Romance | Produced by Jack Nitzsche | |
The Righteous Brothers | You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' | #4, 2/6/65 | |
The Righteous Brothers | Back to Back | #16, 2/5/66 | |
Tommy Roe | Beginnings | 1971 | |
The Ronettes | Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica
|
#96 | released November 1964 |
Nancy Sinatra | Boots | #5, 3/26/66 | |
Nancy Sinatra | How Does That Grab You? | ||
Nancy Sinatra | Country My Way | ||
Nancy Sinatra | Nancy | ||
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood | Nancy and Lee
|
# 13, 5/25/68 | |
Sonny and Cher
|
Look At Us
|
#2, 9/4/65 | |
Phil Spector | Back to Mono (1958–1969) | ||
Phil Spector | A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector | In 2019, it was ranked the greatest Christmas album of all time by Rolling Stone.[12] | |
The Spiral Staircase | More Today Than Yesterday | ||
The Tubes | Young and Rich | ||
Townes Van Zandt | Our Mother the Mountain | ||
Townes Van Zandt | High, Low and In Between | ||
Hank Williams Jr. | Family Tradition |
References
- ^ "Don Randi on Apple Music". Apple Music.
- ^ a b c Yanow. "Don Randi". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Biography at Baked Potato website". Archived from the original on 2016-08-03. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
- ^ "Best Jazz Club". Los Angeles. August 2010. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
- ^ Lynne Margolis, Glen Campbell, Don Randi and Hal Blaine Honored at RockWalk, 5 August 2008 Archived September 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Wrecking Crew at Hollywood's RockWalk". Archived from the original on 2018-05-28. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
- ^ a b Randi, Don, with Karen "Nish" Nishimura, You’ve Heard These Hands: From the Wall of Sound to the Wrecking Crew and Other Incredible Stories, Hal Leonard Books 2015 pp.227-230
- ^ Whitburn, Joel The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, Billboard Books, New York, 1992
- ^ Whitburn, Joel, The Billboard Book of TOP 40 R&B and Hip Hop Hits, Billboard Books, New York 2006 p. 128
- ^ Hartman, Kent, The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll’s Best-Kept Secret, Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2012 p. 120
- ^ Whitburn, Joel, The Billboard Book of TOP 40 Albums, Billboard Books, New York 1991
- ^ "The 25 Greatest Christmas Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 30 November 2019.