Johnny Richards(1911-1968)

Arranger, composer ("Young at Heart"), multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Johnny Richards was a child prodigy, adept at playing trumpet, violin and banjo by the age of ten and performing in vaudeville. He later added saxophone to his repertoire and learned the art of arranging at Syracuse University. In 1931, he went to England and then to Hollywood to write film music, at which time he enjoyed a stint under maestro Victor Young at Paramount. Having established something of a reputation as a progressive arranger, Richards formed his own orchestra in the early 1940's. He claimed to have written 408 of the 500 scores of the band's library, but many of these were so complex that he found few musicians willing to take them on. After little commercial success, he disbanded in 1947 and went back to arranging, initially writing romantic ballads for Boyd Raeburn's big band ("Prelude to the Dawn", "Man With The Horn"). Following that, he arranged and conducted the album "Dizzy Gillespie With Strings" in 1950 and went on to further (more modernist) arranging work for Stan Kenton (notably on his 1957 "Cuban Fire!" album), Charlie Barnet and Sarah Vaughan. His most significant contribution to films is undoubtedly the theme for Young at Heart (1954) (with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh), which became a signature piece for Frank Sinatra.