Richard Pite is a British professional musician (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

, bass ukulele,

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

and

sousaphone The sousaphone ( ) is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J.W. Pepper & Son, J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was design ...

) and jazz historian specialising in the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

of the early-20th century. He is the founder of two music companies: PartyJazz and The Jazz Repertory Company, and is also the Director of Music for Boisdale, which presents jazz and other live music on a nightly basis at its four London venues. For many years he specialised in 1920s music and the drum techniques and visual tricks of the era's jazz drummers and over the last 12 years has worked together with musical partner Pete Long, to preserve jazz history through live performance. Together they have recreated historic moments from jazz in association with The

National Jazz Archive The National Jazz Archive is a collection of materials pertaining to jazz and blues that is kept at the Loughton Library in Essex, England. The archive was founded by British trumpeter Digby Fairweather in 1998 and contains visual and print mater ...

. For the 100th anniversary of

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. Krupa is widely regarded as one of the most influential drummers in the history of popular music. His drum solo on Benny Goodman ...

's birth in 2009, Pite staged the only concert in Britain celebrating his life and work, as he was one of the most important and flamboyant drummers in jazz history.

Early career

A graduate of

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

, Pite began his professional career in California in 1980 where he worked as a freelance drummer. In 1981 he returned to London and freelanced in jazz, rock and country music. He joined the Carey Duncan Band in the summer of 1981 and spent two years touring Europe and the United States with this Country Rock combo. He was concurrently working with a 1920s jazz band called The Rio Trio which, in 1982, became the resident band on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's weekly show ''And So To Ned'', hosted by

Ned Sherrin Edward George Sherrin (18 February 1931 – 1 October 2007) was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC. He appeared in a variety of r ...

. In 1983 he joined The Ross Mitchell Band – the last band to be resident at the London dance venue, the

Hammersmith Palais The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first ''palais de danse'' to be built ...

. The band played for international ballroom dancing championships and released several albums of "strict tempo" music. In 1986 he took over the management of The Rio Trio, a position he held for 10 years. After two tours of the US in 1995 and 1996 the band split up.

Jazz Repertory Company

Pite is the founder, producer and musical director of The Jazz Repertory Company – the only organisation in the UK dedicated solely to producing concerts highlighting the significant musicians, styles and events in jazz history. Diligently researched and using specialist musicians, the productions aim to recreate jazz history as authentically as possible either in overviews such as the popular 100 Years of Jazz in 99 minutes or specific events such as

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

and

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

appearing for the first time in London in 1932 and 1933 or

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

’s '' Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert''. The Jazz Repertory Company concerts take place at London’s

Cadogan Hall Cadogan Hall is a 950-seat capacity concert hall in Sloane Terrace in Chelsea, London, Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. The resident music ensemble at Cadogan Hall is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra ( ...

and the first concert staged there was in 2008. This concert recreated the music

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

recorded with big band and strings in the years 1937 to 1939 and the music had never been presented live in the UK up until this time. Much of the music presented by the Jazz Repertory Company had been popular in its day but was now in danger of sinking into obscurity. An example of this was the music of

Raymond Scott Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow; September 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994) was an American composer, band leader, pianist and record producer. Known best in his time as a composer of production music, Scott is today regarded as an early ...

which formed part of the programme of 2009’s Chamber Jazz. Scott’s Quintette racked up numerous big-selling discs and he later ended up selling his back catalogue to

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

who took the music and utilised it in many of their

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

cartoons. Scott’s Powerhouse was used nine times by Warner Brothers and recently was recycled in an episode of

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

. Another example of a, now largely forgotten, mass entertainment phenomenon being recently revived by the JRC is the music of

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American Jazz bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 193 ...

– the leading bandleader of 1920s America. A million selling artist who is now largely remembered for commissioning

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

to write

Rhapsody In Blue ''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition for solo piano and jazz band by George Gershwin. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects and premiered in a concer ...

in 1924 and employing one of the first great names in jazz history –

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke ( ; March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical a ...

. Other jazz musicians and stars of popular music celebrated in Jazz Repertory Concerts range from

The Andrews Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911–1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (1916–1995), and mezzo ...

and

Glenn Miller Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

and

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

and from

Sidney Bechet Sidney Joseph Bechet ( ; May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important Solo (music), soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Ar ...

and

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star ...

through to

Weather Report Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer Alphonse Mouzon a ...

and

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Concerts

* Keith Nichols Presents... (1987) * Benny Goodman's Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert (2007) * London Omnibus (2008) * Artie Shaw With Strings (2008) * Gene Krupa Centenary Concert (2009) * Chamber Jazz (2009) * The Blagger's Guide To Jazz Live (2010) * 100 Years of Jazz in 99 Minutes (2010) * After You've Gone (2010) * The Vocal Groups (2010) * Louis & The Duke In London (2013) * Peggy, Duke & Benny (2013) * Benny Goodman & Glenn Miller at Carnegie Hall 1939 (2014) * The Newport Jazz Festival: 1950s (2014) * 100 Years of Big Band Jazz in 99 Minutes (2014) * Jazz at The Philharmonic - a 70th Anniversary Tribute (2014) * Berlin To Bacharach (2015) * Ray Charles & Nina Simone: The Genius Of (2015) * Jazz In New York: The 1930s (2015) * Paul Whiteman: The King Of Jazz (2015) * A Complete and Utter History of Jazz (Without the Boring Bits) (2016) * 1956: A Jazz Jubilee (2016) * Jazz in New York: Part 2: The 1930s and 40s: From Swing to Be-Bop (2017) * The Golden Age of British Big Bands (2017) * Jazz at Carnegie Hall (2017) * 1957: A Jazz Jukebox (2017)

Party Jazz Agency

In 1987 Pite founded the live music agency Party Jazz. It specialises in jazz, blues, soul and funk music for all kinds of events and venues including festivals and theatres, corporate and private clients, weddings, parties, product and marketing launches and for television, film and radio. Party Jazz is responsible for launching and nurturing such bands as The Rio Trio, Royal Hen, Soul Shadows and The Hush Puppies and for supporting talent such as Eric Ranzoni, Reuben Richards, Liz Fletcher and Cousin Alice.

Boisdale Jazz Clubs

In 1999 Pite became Director of Music for Boisdale PLC, booking live entertainment for The Boisdale Jazz and Cigar Club in Belgravia London. Boisdale of Bishopsgate followed in 2002 and in 2011 he added Boisdale of Canary Wharf to his roster. As director of Music he has booked acts such as

Acker Bilk Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk, (28 January 1929 – 2 November 2014) was an English clarinetist and vocalist known for his breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register style, and distinctive appearance – of goatee, bowler hat and striped waistco ...

Kenny Ball Kenneth Daniel Ball (22 May 1930Larkin C., ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music''. (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), p. 29; ) – 7 March 2013) was an English jazz musician, best known as the bandleader, lead trumpet player and vocalist in Kenny Ball and ...

, Paul Jones,

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the only B ...

Hot Chocolate Hot Chocolate are a British soul band formed by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson. The group had at least one hit song every year on the UK Singles Chart from 1970 to 1984. Their hits include " You Sexy Thing", a UK number two which also made ...

, Chucho Valdez, Mud Morganfield, Ray Gelato,

Midge Ure James "Midge" Ure (; born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, ...

, the

Humphrey Lyttelton Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family. Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...

Band,

Chris Barber Donald Christopher Barber (17 April 1930 – 2 March 2021) was an English jazz musician, best known as a bandleader and Trombone, trombonist. He helped many musicians with their careers and had a UK top twenty trad jazz hit with "Petite Fleur ...

Liane Carroll Liane Carroll (born 9 February 1964) is an English jazz vocalist, pianist and keyboardist. Early life Carroll's parents were semi-professional singers who met and sang at the Country Club in Eastbourne. She grew up in a musical householdIn a ...

, Buddy Whittington and

The Foundations The Foundations were a British soul band who were primarily active between 1967 and 1970. The group's background was West Indian, White British and Sri Lankan. Their 1967 debut single " Baby Now That I've Found You" reached number one in the ...

. He has also been a dedicated supporter of new and emerging talent such as Philip Achille, Vimala Rowe, Orli Nyles, Heather Simmons and Lee Gold as well as helping Manchester's Jeremy Sassoon establish himself in London.

Professional musician and bandleader

Since the age of 18 Pite has worked as a professional drummer and he is also proficient on double bass, tuba/sousaphone and assorted percussion instruments. At the start of his career Pite specialised in Vintage and Classic Jazz from the 1920s to the 1950s. He has specialised in this genre ever since and performed regularly with internationally acclaimed artists such as Keith Nichols and The Blue Devils, The

Pasadena Roof Orchestra The Pasadena Roof Orchestra (PRO) is a contemporary band from England that specialises in the jazz and Swing music, swing genres of music of the 1920s and 1930s, although their full repertoire is considerably wider. The orchestra has existed s ...

and for 10 years he performed with The Rio Trio (1986-1996). Pite frequently performs at Boisdale Belgravia and Canary Wharf on drums and bass, as well as acting as bandleader and sideman in numerous jazz bands (mainly vintage and mainstream). His personal musical projects include Soul Shadows (playing the music of the

jazz-funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat, electrified sounds, and analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creation of a genre that ranges from ...

pioneers The Crusaders), The Hush Puppies - a band dedicated to playing soul funk and pop with minimal amplification and London Omnibus - a trio performing jazz and popular music of the 1920s and 1930s alongside comedy and vaudeville routines.

In the media

Pite has often been featured in the media both as a guest expert and an artist including the Claire Teal show on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

, as well as his own radio show on 40s UK Radio and local radio stations. He was guest expert on five one hour long episodes of Jazz Library for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

. His broadcast work includes adverts for

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

(with

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

) and

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

for the 2014 World Cup campaign. Films include ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'', ''

Me and Orson Welles ''Me and Orson Welles'' is a 2008 period drama film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Zac Efron, Christian McKay, and Claire Danes. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager ...

'' and ''

I Capture The Castle ''I Capture the Castle'' is Dodie Smith's first novel, written during the Second World War when she and her husband Alec Beesley, a conscientious objector, moved from their native England to California. Smith was already an established playwri ...

''. He has been interviewed by many print and online magazines including '' Blues Matters'', and ''London Jazz News''. His concerts have been lauded in many media sources including ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' and ''

The Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

''.

Selected discography

* 1982 : ''Carey Duncan Live'' * 1984 : ''The Ross Mitchell Band'' * 1985 : ''Let’s Teach The World To Dance'' : The Ross Mitchell Band * 1991 : ''Syncopated Jamboree'' : Keith Nichols and The Cotton Club Orchestra * 1994 : ''Henderson Stomp'' : Keith Nichols and The Cotton Club Orchestra * 1994 : ''The Rio Trio'' * 1997 : ''Harlem’s Arabian Nights'' : Keith Nichols and the Cotton Club Orchestra * 1997 : ''The Cotton Club Band'' * 1999 : ''Cotton Club Stomp'' : The Cotton Club Orchestra * 2000 : ''From Ragtime To Swing: Live at The Royal Albert Hall'' * 2002 : ''Boisdale Blue Rhythm Band Live Vol 1.'' * 2003 : ''Kansas City Breakdown'' : Keith Nichols and the Blue Devils * 2003 : ''Keith Nichols and The Blue Devils'' * 2004 : ''Boisdale Blue Rhythm Band Live Volume 2. Blues from Deepest Belgravia'' * 2004 : ''Percolatin’ Blues'' : The Chalumeau Serenaders * 2005 : ''Top Cat'' : Richard Shelton * 2005 : ''The Charmful Little Armful'' : Keith Nichols’ Little Devils * 2007 : ''You Can’t Do That'' : Boisdale Blue Rhythm Band * 2007 : ''Shoobiz: Shoo Shoo Baby'' * 2007 : ''Peter Long: Music for 4,5 and 6'' * 2009 : ''London Omnibus'' * 2013 : ''Peggy, Duke and Benny'' : Georgina Jackson and The Pete Long Quartet * 2013 : '' Now We Are 57'' : Richard Pite Quartet * 2014 : ''Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller at Carnegie Hall 1939'' : The Goodman-Miller Tribute Orchestra * 2014 : ''A Tribute to Jazz At The Philharmonic'' * 2014 : ''The Tattooed Bride: Echoes of Ellington''

References

External links

The Jazz Journal on The Newport Jazz Festival Tribute Concert

* ttp://www.efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/events/info/richard-pite-presents-the-newport-jazz-festival-the-1950s At The EFG London Jazz Festival
London Jazz News Reviews The Newport Jazz Festival Anniversary Concert

* ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02hh53w Richard Pite on The BBC
Sound Checking At The BBC

Music Historian - BBC Podcasts on iTunes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pite, Richard Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British jazz bandleaders British jazz drummers British jazz double-bassists British male double-bassists British male jazz musicians Historians of jazz British music historians York University alumni 21st-century British double-bassists 21st-century British male musicians