Victor Rice

Last updated
Victor Rice
Born (1967-04-17) April 17, 1967 (age 57)
Syosett, Nassau, New York, United States
Genres Reggae, ska, dub
Occupation(s)Musician, Producer, Mix Engineer, Sound Designer
Years active1988–present
Labels Moon Ska Records, Megalith Records, Stubborn Records

Victor Rice (born April 17, 1967) is an American bassist, composer and producer from Long Island, NY. Rice moved to New York City in 1985 to attend Manhattan School of Music, where he received his BM and MM degrees in orchestral performance under Homer Mensch and Linda McKnight, respectively. [1] Rice started his career producing records for the record label Moon Ska Records the following year. In 1996, he moved to Stubborn Records and began engineering his own productions. He moved to São Paulo, Brazil in 2002 and built his own studio, Studio Copan where he is the sole engineer.

Contents

Rice has won two Latin Grammys , one in 2015 for his work as mix engineer on Tulipa Ruiz' “Dancê” and one in 2016 for his work as mix engineer on Elza Soares' “A Mulher do Fim do Mundo.” [2] He has released 4 solo albums of instrumental, retro-reggae and dub music as well as one album under the pseudonym Strikkly Vikkly. He continues to perform with a live band The Victor Rice Septet and also as a solo artist under the Strikkly Vikkly pseudonym, [3] using an analog mixing desk and tape machine.

Composer

After graduating from the Manhattan School of Music, Rice decided not to pursue a career as an orchestral musician and instead gravitated toward Jamaican Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae. His instrumental music is based mostly on simple juxtapositions between melody, harmony and bass line, and he is passionate about the realization of what he calls samba-rocksteady. [4]

Samba-rocksteady combines beats from Brazilian samba-rock and Jamaican rocksteady, both popular in the mid ’60s. The difference between the rhythms’ swing and their respective dances are subtle, but clear enough that a hybrid may be impossible to resolve. Rice is determined to move in that direction, saying, “The results are already proving to be viably danceable.” He cites Béla Bartok as a major inspirational figure, in both his work in general and also his Mikrocosmos series in particular. [5]

From 2000 to 2008, Rice worked as a post-production engineer and composer-for-hire in the television industry for channels such as HBO, Syfy, History Channel, etc. [1]

Some of Rice’s earliest compositions can be found on other artists’ records, such as The Scofflaws’ songs ‘Béla’ and ‘Parish,’ Version City Rockers’ songs ‘Damage’ and ‘Disco Envy’, and more. He also co-wrote with artists on both Moon Ska Records and Stubborn Records. [6]

Producer and Engineer

Rice was fascinated with recording as a child, and his passion for it only intensified when he became a session bassist at 15. He would hound the session engineers for information, particularly how to sound better on tape. Rice learned the most from Bob Stander, Cliff Schwarz and Henry Hirsch.

In his first years as a producer for Moon Records, Victor worked with designated engineers and took on the producer’s “old school” role of session coordinator and musical/technical liaison between artist and engineer. It was only when he began producing for Stubborn Records at their Version City studio that Rice assumed the role of engineer out of practical necessity. From that point forward, he was free to develop his own relationship with sound in general and particularly Dub technique.

After moving to São Paulo, Brazil in 2002, Rice built his own studio, Studio Copan where he is the sole engineer.

Bassist

Rice began playing the bass guitar at 13 years old, when he began taking lessons at his local music shop. At 17, he began studying orchestral bass with Linda McKnight and bass guitar with Percy Jones. The following year, Rice was accepted to the Manhattan School of Music and began studies with Homer Mensch. After earning his BM in 1989, he again studied with his original teacher, Linda McKnight until earning his MM in 1991. [1]

Solo Projects

At Version City - 1998

Created over a span of three years (1996-1998) during Rice’s tenure as a producer for Stubborn Records, At Version City is more of a compilation of individual productions than a conceptual album. Instead, Rice’s use of the same group of musicians as well as the technical simplicity of the analogue studio give the album its cohesive feel. [7]

In America - 2003

Friend and fellow producer Victor Axelrod offered his Brooklyn studio to Rice to record his original music. There, Rice recorded a large number of songs that, until that point, had only existed on paper. The recordings began in 2001 and continued until Feb 2002 when Rice moved to Brazil. He brought the recordings as well as another handful of songs written in the interim to Studio El Rocha in São Paulo, Brazil. It is now available on vinyl from Badasonic Records in Europe.

Rice has expressed that the title and artwork are an attempt to convey his transitional period between New York and São Paulo.

In America was released on CD on three continents simultaneously through three different labels, Megalith Records in North America, Radiola Records in South America and Grover Records in Europe. Each tracklist is slightly different, with the Radiola Records version being the definitive. This version had 19 tracks, which included all of the versions of the songs. [8]

Strikkly Vikkly - 2014

Strikkly Vikkly is the first full-length LP under that name, released 15 years after the debut of the self-titled single on the Version City Dub Clash compilation. Some of the artists that appear on the album include Ticklah, Cedric Brooks, and Uzimon. The vinyl record sold out and is no longer available. [9]

Smoke - 2017

In his time between In America and Strikkly Vikkly, Rice produced and mixed for other artists while also performing extensively in Europe. During that time, Rice began working on Smoke. The finished record was picked up by Easy Star Records in 2016 and released the following year. [10]

Drink - 2020

Drink was created in half the time compared with previous albums, which Rice credits to the revival of his career as a composer. The album reaffirmed Rice’s commitment to the Samba-Rocksteady style with more music in that vein, specifically the song “Arouche.” The production of Drink is very similar to that of Smoke, with some changes in personnel: Buford O’Sullivan replaces Mr T Bone on trombone and many Brazilian and American musicians are featured as guests. [11]

Discography (solo albums)

Select discography (as producer)

Select discography (as mix engineer)

Select discography (as remix engineer)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reggae</span> Music genre

Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first popular song to use the word reggae, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. Reggae is rooted out from traditional Jamaican Kumina, Pukkumina, Revival Zion, Nyabinghi, and burru drumming. Jamaican reggae music evolved out of the earlier genres mento, ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ska</span> Music genre

Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods and with many skinheads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Slackers</span> American ska band

The Slackers are an American ska band, formed in Manhattan, New York in 1991. The band's sound is a mix of ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, soul, garage rock, and jazz. The Slackers' notability is credited to their prolific career, tours of North and South America, Europe, and elsewhere, and signing to notable punk label Hellcat Records.

There are several subgenres of reggae music including various predecessors to the form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Go Jimmy Go</span>

Go Jimmy Go was an American ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul influenced band from Honolulu, Hawaii. Although chronologically, the band belongs to the third-wave, their mellow, slower tempo sound is reminiscent of the classic style of the original 1960s Jamaican first wave of ska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skank (band)</span> Brazilian band from Belo Horizonte

Skank was a Brazilian pop rock band from Belo Horizonte. Having begun in 1991, they sold approximately 5,200,000 copies of their albums as of 2004. Initially intending to mix dancehall with traditional Brazilian styles, later the band changed its sonority to music closer to Britpop and local movement Clube da Esquina. Their last concert was held on March 26, 2023, at Mineirão, in Belo Horizonte.

Stubborn All-Stars are an American, New York City-based ska band led by King Django, front man of Skinnerbox and owner of Stubborn Records.

King Django is an American bandleader, singer, songwriter, arranger, engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, especially in the genres of ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, dancehall, rhythm & blues and soul. Other influences in his music have included traditional jazz, swing, klezmer, hardcore/punk rock, hip-hop and electronica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vic Ruggiero</span> Musical artist

Victor "Vic" Ruggiero, is a musician, songwriter and producer from New York City who has played in reggae, blues, ska and rocksteady bands since the early 1990s, including The Slackers, Stubborn All-Stars, SKAndalous All Stars, Crazy Baldhead and The Silencers. He has also performed with punk rock band Rancid, both live and in the studio. He has released four solo acoustic albums and continues to tour and record worldwide. Ruggiero is known primarily as a singer and organist, although he also plays piano, bass, banjo, cigar box guitar, guitar, harmonica and percussion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Hillyard</span> American saxophonist

Dave Hillyard is a tenor saxophonist originating from San Diego, California. He has performed in groups such as The Slackers, The Rocksteady Seven, The Donkey Show, Hepcat, Stubborn All-Stars, and has guested with the likes of Rancid, Victor Rice, Skinnerbox NYC and Alexandra Lawerentz. He is a skilled improviser and composer/arranger with more than thirty album credits to his name.

Ruder Than You is an American ska band that was founded in 1989 at Penn State University and, in 1991, the group relocated to Philadelphia. While ska and reggae stylings have always provided the common musical thread, over the past 15 plus years Ruder Than You has been mixing in dancehall, hip hop, rocksteady, and rub-a-dub – even adding elements of funk, jazz, and punk.

Soul Jazz Records is a British record label based in London. Outside of releasing records, the label also publishes books, occasionally films and performs as a DJ set. The music releases labels from a variety of genres, including reggae, house, hip hop, punk rock, jazz, funk, bossa nova and soul.

The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including "Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many other Jamaican artists who recorded during that period, including Bob Marley & The Wailers, on their first single "Simmer Down." They reformed in 1983 and have played together ever since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Nugent</span> Musical artist

Jayson Nugent is a guitarist and DJ from New York who plays in the style of several Jamaican music genres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">João Donato</span> Brazilian jazz and bossa nova pianist (1934–2023)

João Donato de Oliveira Neto was a Brazilian jazz and bossa nova pianist as well as a trombonist from Rio Branco. He first worked with Altamiro Carrilho and went on to perform with Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud Gilberto. Because of the area he grew up in Brasil he was able to hear Cuban music on the radio. This influence would manifest itself in many of his compositions, piano, and trombone playing. Donato's most well-known compositions include: "Amazonas", "Lugar Comum", "Simples Carinho", "Até Quem Sabe" and "Nasci Para Bailar".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Rocksteady Seven</span> American Ska and Jazz band

The Rocksteady 7 also known as David Hillyard & the Rocksteady Seven, are an American Ska and Jazz band from New York, New York that formed in 1992. Since the early 1990s the group has consisted of tenor saxophonist and band leader Dave Hillyard as well as percussionist Larry McDonald. In live performances, they are supported by a rotating cast of musicians, including drummer Eddie Ocampo and Dave Wake on keys among others.

Horatious Adolphus "Pat" Kelly was a prolific, influential Jamaican rocksteady and reggae singer and innovative, groundbreaking sound engineer working with King Tubby, Bunny Lee and Scientist (musician), whose career began in the mid-1960s. He recorded as a solo artist and as a member of the vocal group the Techniques. Slim Smith, who had been the lead vocalist in the band, left The Techniques in 1966 to be replaced by Pat Kelly. The shift from ska to rocksteady suited The Techniques, with a string of hits in 1967 and 1968 notably "You Don't Care" and "Queen Majesty", tunes which were versioned by Big Youth, Tony Tuff, Duke Reid, Tommy McCook, Sonia Pottinger's High Note label with The Revolutionaries, Ronnie Davis, The Itals, Cornell Campbell and many more

Gladstone Anderson, also known by his nickname "Gladdy", was a Jamaican pianist, keyboard player, and singer, who played a major part in the island's musical history, playing a key role in defining the ska sound and the rocksteady beat, and playing on hundreds of recordings as a session musician, a solo artist, and as leader of Gladdy's All Stars, featuring bassist Jackie Jackson, drummer Winston Grennan, guitarist Hux Brown, and keyboardist Winston Wright. As Harry J All Stars the band had a massive hit in Jamaica and United Kingdom with the instrumental song "The Liquidator" 1969. Anderson's work was consistently popular in the late 70s too, as roots reggae, dub and sound system culture increasingly prioritised more conscious and deeply spiritual concerns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Axelrod</span> Musical artist

Victor Axelrod is an American musician, producer, and audio engineer from Brooklyn, New York. Since the mid-1990s, he has worked primarily in the genres of reggae, Afrobeat and soul, recording and producing under his own name and using the alias Ticklah.

<i>A mulher do fim do mundo</i> 2015 studio album by Elza Soares

A mulher do fim do mundo is a studio album released by Brazilian singer Elza Soares in 2015. Soares, who was 85 when the album was released, recorded the album with the help of nearly three dozen producers, composers, songwriters and musicians including Victor Rice and figures from the vanguarda paulista scene. The album combines her usual style of samba with influences from jazz, afro-funk, noise rock and post-punk.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rice, Victor (March 21, 2023). "Victor Rice LinkedIn". Victor Rice LinkedIn. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Latin GRAMMYs". Latin GRAMMYs. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  3. ↑ "Victor Rice". Discogs. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  4. ↑ Episode 42 (Part 1): Victor Rice - "Simão" w/ Victor Rice, 2021-12-08, retrieved 2023-03-22
  5. ↑ "Entrevista a Victor Rice". Sonidos (in Spanish). 17 January 2012. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  6. ↑ "Total Running Time". totalrunningtime.com. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  7. ↑ Victor Rice - At Version City, 1999, retrieved 2023-03-22
  8. ↑ Victor Rice - In America , retrieved 2023-03-22
  9. ↑ Victor Rice, Strikkly Vikkly - Volume 1, 17 November 2014, retrieved 2023-03-22
  10. ↑ Victor Rice - Smoke, 3 November 2017, retrieved 2023-03-22
  11. ↑ Victor Rice - Drink, 15 May 2020, retrieved 2023-03-22
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.