Richie Pratt

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Richie Pratt (born Richard Dean Tyree; March 11, 1943 – February 12, 2015) was an American jazz drummer. He embarked upon a career as a professional musician on the New York scene in the early 1970s, it was as much due to an unanticipated sporting injury as anything else. Pratt was born into a musical family (his mother was a church pianist and a brother is

saxophonist Chris Burnett) and grew up in the Kansas City metro city of Olathe, Kansas. He first studied music via the piano, as well as attended various music camps as a youth prior to attending college as a music major at the University of Kansas
.

Early life and football career

Pratt was born at the University of Kansas Medical Center to Wayne Tyree and Violet Lorraine Jackson Tyree, then later adopted by his great aunt and uncle, John and Willa Pratt in the

NFL’s New York Giants
.

Music career

Richie Pratt’s prolific tenure as a first-call

percussionist on the highly competitive New York City music scene began after he suffered a career-ending injury during his second season with the Giants. His professional tenure as a musician in New York actually began while he was employed as a host at the famed Village Gate
.

Pratt began sitting in with

Midwest who played drums. Bassist Major Holley eventually invited Pratt to jam on Sundays at Jacques, which resulted in Junior Mance hearing him play drums and offering him his first paid gig as a drummer in New York. He was sponsored into the American Federation of Musicians, Local 802, by pianist Ahmad Jamal
, and eventually worked significantly as a studio session musician, contractor and sideman in numerous contexts.

Initially described in the New York press as a "bubbling cauldron of musical vitality", Pratt subsequently added musical diversity to his cauldron by performing with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey; in the Broadway hits: Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death; Dude; Raisin; and notably, Pratt was the drum soloist in Broadway's smashing tribute to Duke Ellington, Sophisticated Ladies.

In the traditional jazz arena, Pratt spent over three years as a member of the

Temptations, Della Reese, Johnny Hartman, Carol Sloane, and Johnny Desmond
as well.

Pratt was based in

Honolulu, Hawaii, upon leaving New York City and continued to be an active performer on the local Honolulu music scene, as well as co-founding and contributing to establishing such local groups as Honolulu Jazz Quartet. Pratt also often worked with touring artists, such as the Russian-born trumpeter, Valery Ponomarev
, who make the Hawaiian islands part of their itineraries.

He signed with the Kansas City-based new concept music label

Amazon.com and CD Baby
.

On October 6, 2012, Pratt returned home to the mainland to live in the midwest and remained based permanently in his native Kansas City metropolitan area.

He died at his home on February 12, 2015.[1]

Discography

As Leader

As sideman

With Frank Foster

With Carol Sloan

  • Out of the Blue (Columbia)

With Lionel Hampton

  • LIONEL HAMPTON AND HIS BIG BAND - OUTRAGEOUS (Timeless)
  • LIONEL HAMPTON & HIS GIANTS OF JAZZ 1979 (Timeless)
  • HAMP PRESENTS WOODY HERMAN (Timeless)
  • HAMP IN HAARLEM (Timeless)

With Aretha Franklin

With Sir Roland Hanna

With New York Jazz Quartet

  • Song of The Black Knight with George Mraz, Richard Pratt, Frank Wess, 1977
  • Surge with George Mraz, Richard Pratt, Frank Wess, 1977

With Phyllis Hyman

  • One on One (Hip-O, 1998)
  • The Legacy of Phyllis Hyman (Arista, 1996)

With Carrie Smith

  • Only You Can Do It (GP, 1982)

On Broadway

Off Broadway

  • Taking My Turn (Original Cast Album, 1982)

References

  1. ^ "Drummer, Richie Pratt (March 11, 1943 - February 12, 2015)". news.allaboutjazz.com. February 15, 2015.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Richie Pratt.
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