Rick Braun | |
|---|---|
 Braun performing in 2005 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Richard Carl Braun |
| Born | July 6, 1955 Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Genres | Smooth jazz, jazz fusion, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, record producer |
| Instruments | Trumpet, flugelhorn, [1] keyboards [1] |
| Labels | Artistry, Mack Avenue |
| Website | rickbraun |
Rick Braun (born July 6, 1955) is an American smooth jazz trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone and keyboards player, vocalist, composer, and record producer. [2]
Braun was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and attended Dieruff High School. His mother was a self-taught pianist and banjoist. Braun played drums at Dieruff High School, and followed his brother in playing trumpet. [3]
In the 1970s, while attending the Eastman School of Music, he became a member of a jazz-fusion band, Auracle, along with, amongst others, keyboards player John Serry, saxophone and flute player Steve Kujala and vibes player Steve Rehbein (later Steve Raybine). [2] [4] The band worked with producer Teo Macero and Braun co-produced the second album City Slickers (minus John Serry and Steve Kujala).
In the 1980s, Braun entered the pop music world, releasing an album in Japan as a singer. He then worked as a songwriter for Lorimar, writing the song "Here with Me" with REO Speedwagon which became a top twenty hit, [2] [4] and the theme for Lorimar's NBC show Midnight Caller. When he returned to the trumpet, he worked as a studio musician and touring member with Crowded House, Natalie Cole, Glenn Frey, Jack Mack and the Heart Attack, Tom Petty, Sade, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, and War. [4]
In 1992, he released his debut solo album, Intimate Secrets (Mesa), followed in 1994 by two solo albums, Night Walk and Christmas Present. The former featured him playing just muted trumpet and flugelhorn. His popularity increased enough by 1995, when he released Beat Street, that he was persuaded to pursue a solo career. [2] [5]
He has cited as influences Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Chet Baker, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, and Herb Alpert. He cites Herb Alpert with inspiring his album All It Takes, which includes the song "Tijuana Dance", a play on Alpert's band Tijuana Brass. [4] One of his influences was Freddie Hubbard, and Braun composed a song, "Freddie Was Here" in 2008, which he recorded on his album, All it Takes, in tribute to Hubbard, who died that year. [6]
He achieved several top chartings including Kisses in the Rain (as high as number 1), [7] R n R (as high as number 1), All It Takes (as high as number 2), [8] and Can You Feel It (as high as number 1) along with charting at the Traditional Jazz Albums for the first time in 2011 with the vocal album Sings with Strings (as high as number 9). [9]
Braun performs in the band BWB, with saxophonist Kirk Whalum and guitarist Norman Brown. [10] He has performed live with known musicians such as Candy Dulfer, Dave Koz, Jackiem Joyner, and Peter White.
In 2005, he and saxophonist Richard Elliot co-founded ARTizen Music Group, now known as Artistry Music, and once had Rykodisc as a distributor. [11]
Braun has twice been named Gavin Report 's "Artist of the Year". [12]
| Titles | Year | Label | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intimate Secrets | 1992 | Mesa | |
| Night Walk | 1994 | Mesa/Bluemoon | |
| Christmas Present: Music of Warmth and Celebration | 1994 | Mesa/Bluemoon | reissued by Atlantic in 1997 |
| Beat Street | 1995 | Mesa/Bluemoon | |
| Body and Soul | 1997 | Mesa/Bluemoon | |
| Full Stride | 1998 | Atlantic | |
| Shake It Up | 2000 | Warner Bros. | with Boney James |
| Kisses in the Rain | 2001 | Warner Bros. | |
| Esperanto | 2003 | Warner Bros. | |
| Yours Truly | 2005 | Artizen | |
| Sessions: Volume 1 | 2006 | Artizen | |
| R n R | 2007 | Artizen | with Richard Elliot |
| All It Takes | 2009 | Artistry/Mack Avenue | |
| Sings with Strings | 2011 | Artistry/Mack Avenue | |
| Swingin' in the Snow | 2012 | Brauntosoarus/CD Baby | |
| Can You Feel It | 2014 | Artistry/Mack Avenue | |
| Around the Horn | 2017 | Shanachie | |
| Crossroads | 2019 | Shanachie | |
| Rick Braun | 2022 | Brauntosoarus |
| Titles | Year | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Groovin' | 2002 | Warner Bros. |
| Human Nature: The Songs of Michael Jackson | 2013 | Heads Up |
| BWB | 2016 | Artistry/Mack Avenue |
The flugelhorn, also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though some are in C. It is a type of valved bugle, developed in Germany in the early 19th century from a traditional English valveless bugle. The first version of a valved bugle was sold by Heinrich Stölzel in Berlin in 1828. The valved bugle provided Adolphe Sax with the inspiration for his B♭ soprano (contralto) saxhorns, on which the modern-day flugelhorn is modelled.
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and dominated jazz in the early 1940s when swing was most popular. The term "big band" is also used to describe a genre of music, although this was not the only style of music played by big bands.
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a wide range of musical styles. Their sound has merged rock, pop and R&B/soul music with big band jazz.
Herb Alpert is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, five of which became No. 1 albums; he has scored 14 platinum albums and 15 gold albums. Alpert is the only musician to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 as both a vocalist and an instrumentalist.
John Serry Sr. was an American concert accordionist, arranger, composer, organist, and educator. He performed on the CBS Radio and Television networks and contributed to Voice of America's cultural diplomacy initiatives during the Golden Age of Radio. He also concertized on the accordion as a member of several orchestras and jazz ensembles for nearly forty years between the 1930s and 1960s.
Whipped Cream & Other Delights is a 1965 studio album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, called "Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass" for this album, released on A&M Records. It is the band's fourth full album and arguably their most popular release.
Going Places is the fifth album by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. It was originally released by A&M Records in 1965 and has appeared in many formats.
The Merry-Go-Round was an American psychedelic rock, Los Angeles based band, best known for the singer-songwriter Emitt Rhodes and featuring Joel Larson on drums, Gary Kato on lead guitar, and Bill Rinehart on bass. The group gained inspiration from bands like the Beatles, the Byrds, and the Left Banke for its vocal harmonies and instrumental acquisitions. They used their contemporaries' styles to create their own sound.
Lani Hall is an American singer, lyricist, and author. From 1966 to 1971 she performed as lead vocalist for Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66. In 1972, Hall released her first solo album, Sun Down Lady. She may be best known, however, for providing the most recognizable (female) face and (female) vocal signature sound to Sérgio's group during her tenure there, and for her rendition of the theme song to the 1983 James Bond film, Never Say Never Again, with its accompanying video, in which she prominently appears. In 1986, she was awarded her first Grammy for Es Fácil Amar, as "Best Latin Pop Performance."
S.R.O., is an album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, released in 1966. The title stands for "Standing Room Only," which is a term used to describe a sold-out performance where all the available seats are taken and only standing room remains. The album features the hit singles "Work Song" and "Mame," as well as other popular tracks such as "Flamingo" and "Our Day Will Come." It was the seventh album released by the group and reached #2 on the Billboard 200 chart.
"Rise" is an instrumental written by Andy Armer and Randy 'Badazz' Alpert, first recorded in 1979 by trumpeter Herb Alpert. Released as a single from Alpert's solo album Rise, the song reached #1 on the Billboard charts. It is the instrumental sample for The Notorious B.I.G. hit "Hypnotize".
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Kirk Whalum is an American R&B and smooth jazz saxophonist and songwriter. He toured with Whitney Houston for more than seven years and soloed on her single "I Will Always Love You", the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. He was also featured on many Luther Vandross albums, most often playing on the singer's covers of older pop and R&B standards such as "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "I ", and "Love Won't Let Me Wait".
No Sweat is the sixth album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in 1973.
Blue Gardenia is the twenty-fifth studio album by Etta James, released through the record label Private Music. It was produced by John Snyder, who had worked with James on five of her previous studio albums. Blue Gardenia contains thirteen jazz standards from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. All of the standards were arranged by pianist Cedar Walton, with the exception of "Love Letters", which was arranged by Josh Sklair. Between November 2000 and February 2001, Snyder and Walton assembled musicians to record tracks while James was recovering from a flu; her vocals were added following her recovery. In addition to Walton, artists appearing on the album included Red Holloway on tenor saxophone and Dorothy Hawkins, James' mother, who provided vocals on the title track. Hawkins died in May 2002, less than a year after the album's release.
Summer Horns is a collaboration album by Dave Koz, Gerald Albright, Mindi Abair and Richard Elliot. It was released on May 7, 2013 via Concord Records. The album was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, losing to Steppin' Out by Herb Alpert.
Fandango is a studio album by American musician Herb Alpert released on A&M Records in April 1982 with catalog number SP-3731.
The Brass Are Comin' is a 1969 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, the group's 13th release and its last album before disbanding in December 1969. It was the first of the group's albums to not achieve gold certification. However, the album reached No. 30 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Bullish is a 1984 album released by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, though the Tijuana Brass was not involved in its making. The album was reissued in 2017. The music of the album is mostly electro-funk, with Alpert's characteristic trumpet in accompaniment. The album is mostly instrumental, though Lani Hall provides vocals on the track "Maniac". Describing the album in 1984, Alpert said, "I don't think of this as a backward-looking record ... It's very contemporary."
Coney Island is a 1975 studio album by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, the second release that was billed as "Herb Alpert & The T.J.B." It followed the 1974 release of You Smile – The Song Begins. Both albums reflected personnel changes from the Brass that was disbanded after 1969's The Brass Are Comin'.
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