Radio Richard | Richard Niles Podcast

Legendary Arranger/Producer H.B.Barnum has been successful in every decade since the 1950s. Although working for the FBI (!), he became a singer in doo-wop groups the Dootones and the Robins, also working as an A&R man. The multi-instrumentalist decided to concentrate on music when he had a hit with “Pink Shoelaces” (Dodie Stevens). He arranged for Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin, M...

Ray is well respected both as a top studio guitarist and a jazz player working with a host of stars from pop and rock (David Bowie, Phil Collins, Art Garfunkel, Lulu, George Martin, Heaven 17, Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, Phil Spector, Scott Walker, Andy Williams and Tina Turner), as well as jazz (Mo Foster, Anthony Jackson, Gary Moore, Simon Phillips, John Barry, Gil Evans, Michael Gibbs and RMS...

Amen Corner. Fairweather. The Strawbs. Mott The Hoople. Pet Shop Boys. The Bee Gees. The Strawbs again! The very nice (and Welsh) keyboardist, composer, producer BLUE WEAVER talks about his amazing career with stories about Jimi Hendrix, Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman told in passing. Bleu shows you the working process of the professional musician from the inside. This is the guy who helped the Be...

Award winning guitar virtuoso Al Di Meola visited my home studio for an interview that will be a special treat to guitarists and music lovers. He spoke about how he developed his music, his explorations in sound and his love of Latin music. He also played two beautiful pieces from his (then) new album Flesh on Flesh (2002) live on acoustic guitar. [There is also an amusing moment when we talk of t...

Michael Gibbs is one of the most innovative composers in jazz working with Gary Burton, Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, Whitney Houston, George Martin, Elton John, Sting, Peter Gabriel and John Scofield. He was my composition teacher at the Berklee College of Music (1974-5) and I played in his band (which I named) The Only Chrome Waterfall Orchestra. He is interviewed and his music an...

What a pleasure to introduce you to my friend and colleague for over 40 years, JOHN THIRKELL. Here comes TRUMPET WOW!!! Why ‘wow’? Pop: Bruno Mars, David Bowie, George Michael, Pet Shop Boys, Jamiroquoi, Swing Out Sister, Tina Turner, Clapton, Bon Jovi, Phill Collins… Jazz: Ray Charles, Buddy Rich, Phil Collins, “Through the 1980s and early 1990s he was on at least one album in the UK Charts conti...

I’ve never met anyone who I instantly liked as much as Jimmie Haskell. You can tell from the way we’re joking around in this 2002 interview that there was an instant rapport. In my book, “The Invisible Artist” I refer to his “gentle, understated sense of humor”. I ‘got’ him and he liked that I ‘got’ him. And respected him. Haskell was successful as an arranger and producer from the late 1950’s sta...

I’ve never met anyone who I instantly liked as much as Jimmie Haskell. You can tell from the way we’re joking around in this 2002 interview that there was an instant rapport. In my book, “The Invisible Artist” I refer to his “gentle, understated sense of humor”. I ‘got’ him and he liked that I ‘got’ him. And respected him. Haskell was successful as an arranger and producer from the late 1950’s sta...

RR listeners will have heard interviews with Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin and David Van De Pitte. But here’s part 3 of my BBC  series on the contribution of arrangers, to Motown, Stax, Muscle Shoals and more, putting it all in context. With excerpts of some great music the publishers will try to cut out! Listen, enjoy, subscribe. Part 4 next week! This is killer stuff and you only get this with Ra...

A masterclass with acclaimed artist, ‘Snake’ Davis. He’s been a featured sax soloist with Ray Charles, Tom Jones, George Michael, M People, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, Swing Out Sister Clive Griffin and the Pet Shop Boys. I’ve worked with him on many projects since 1987 when he joined BANDZILLA. He has had a constant solo career with his many bands and his “Classic Sax Solos” project. Snake talks...

Co-Founder of Atlantic Records. Producer of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Dusty Springfield, Etta James, Sam & Dave, Dire Straits and Bob Dylan. Inventor of the term ‘Rhythm & Blues’. New York. Memphis. Muscle Shoals. I interviewed Wexler in 2003 for my BBC documentary series “Richard Niles’ History of Pop Arranging” and for my book “The Invisible Artist” (2009). This...

Co-Founder of Atlantic Records. Producer of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Dusty Springfield, Etta James, Sam & Dave, Dire Straits and Bob Dylan. Inventor of the term ‘Rhythm & Blues’. New York. Memphis. Muscle Shoals. I interviewed Wexler in 2003 for my BBC documentary series “Richard Niles’ History of Pop Arranging” and for my book “The Invisible Artist” (2009). This...

Co-Founder of Atlantic Records. Producer of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Dusty Springfield, Etta James, Sam & Dave, Dire Straits and Bob Dylan. Inventor of the term ‘Rhythm & Blues’. New York. Memphis. Muscle Shoals. I interviewed Wexler in 2003 for my BBC documentary series “Richard Niles’ History of Pop Arranging” and for my book “The Invisible Artist” (2009). This...

“What’s Going On?” I’ll tell you: A rare and historically significant interview with legendary Motown arranger DAVID VAN DePITTE recorded for my BBC Radio 2 documentary series in 2002. Best known for his work on one of the most critically acclaimed albums of all time, Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?”, Van DePitte’s contribution is significant. I am not aware of any other pop arrangement that uses...

Dylan Bell and Suba Sankaran are acclaimed leaders in the a cappella vocal world, as well as being talented composers, arrangers and multi-instrumentalists. Here is the special bonus tune where they create what you could call a sound machine reminiscent of Miami!!! Enjoy! Have some salsa! LIKE this episode! SUBSCRIBE to our social media! DONATE to our PATREON! Pretty Please! YouTube: https://www.y...

Dylan Bell and Suba Sankaran are acclaimed leaders in the a cappella vocal world, as well as being talented composers, arrangers and multi-instrumentalists. They have worked with The Swingles, the Nylons and the New York Voices as well as performing in over 20 countries across 6 continents. They specialize in sophisticated vocal arrangements manifested with a mastery of ‘LIVE LOOPING’, using techn...

I was lucky enough to interview MICHAEL BRECKER at the 2003 Brecon Jazz Festival and interview him for my series, The New Jazz Standards. We also recorded him in concert playing 2 tunes, one of which is his fab arrangement of Giant Steps. This is a rare recording of Michael and a chance for you to hear one of the all-time greats in concert with Joey Calderazzo (piano), Chris Minh Doky (bass) and J...

With more than forty gold and platinum albums, over 15 Grammy nominations and seven Grammy Awards. Arif Mardin consistently arranged and produced hits for over forty years hits for Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Hall & Oates, Brandy, Carly Simon, Roberta Flack, Patti LaBelle, Laura Nyro, Phil Collins, Jewel, the Bee Gees, Ringo Star...

With more than forty gold and platinum albums, over 15 Grammy nominations and seven Grammy Awards. Arif Mardin consistently arranged and produced hits for over forty years hits for Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Hall & Oates, Brandy, Carly Simon, Roberta Flack, Patti LaBelle, Laura Nyro, Phil Collins, Jewel, the Bee Gees, Ringo Star...

Educator, composer, arranger, Professor of Music at University of New Orleans Harold Battiste (1931-2015) co-produced and arranged many hits including You Send Me for Sam Cooke, I Got You Babe for Sonny & Cher, and the Gris Gris, Babylon and Gumbo albums for Mac Rebennack/Dr. John. This complete interview made for my History of Pop Arranging show for the BBC became a chapter in my book The Invisib...

The FABULOUS 50s, and the birth of Rock and Roll as a commercial force was directed by the arrangers, using a fusion of swing, jazz, blues and Latin styles. Dave Bartholomew in New Orleans, Jesse Stone in New York City and Maxwell Davis in Los Angeles created a new sound that shocked a public used to the cocktail pop of Mitch Miller, Doris Day and Tony Bennett. And the technological development of...

Manilow Magic! I interviewed pop superstar Barry Manilow in London (2003) for my BBC Series “Richard Niles’ History of Pop Arranging” (available here on Radio Richard) and for my acclaimed book “The Invisible Artist” (available from Amazon). Thoughtful and  articulate, Barry reveals the musical concepts that have shaped his career from writing jingles to arranging and producing for Bette Midler, D...

Jazz Improv Magazine called Jay Azzolina “one of the finest and most talented guitarists on the planet”, and I would be the last to argue with them. As my fellow student at The Berklee College of Music back in the 1970s, Jay knocked everyone out (including our teacher Pat Metheny) every time he picked up the guitar. He earned a Grammy nomination for his work with Spyro Gyra in the 1980s and went o...

ALL MUSIC LICENCES AND COPYRIGHTS CLEARED BY BBC RADIO 2 IN 2003. I wrote and hosted this 7-part documentary series for BBC R2 in 2003. In Episode 1, I explain what an arranger is and interview arrangers Harold Battiste, Barry Manilow, Nick Ingman, Pee Wee Ellis, John Altman, Bobby Martin, H. B. Barnum, Jimmie Haskell and Jeremy Lubbock. If you don’t know them, you’ll know the records they arrange...

Steve began as half of remix team Brothers In Rhythm, with tracks for Michael Jackson, Sting and McCartney. He went on to become an acclaimed producer and songwriter for many artists including Westlife, Steps, Leona Lewis and Britney Spears . We worked together on many projects including Take That, Clive Griffin and Kylie Minogue. He became Kylie’s Musical Director for her spectacular tours in 199...