Don Randi is an American keyboard player, bandleader and songwriter. He has performed on numerous recordings, including many as a session musician and member of the Wrecking Crew, as well as releasing his own jazz records.
Biography
Born in New York City and raised in the Catskill Mountains, he received a training in classical music. After his father's death, he and his mother moved to Los Angeles in 1954, and the following year he started work at a recorddistribution company where he heard and became influenced by jazz musicians, particularly Horace Silver. Don is Jewish. He began his career as a professional pianist and keyboard player in 1956, gradually establishing a reputation as a leading session musician. In the early 1960s, he was a major contributor, as musician and arranger, to record producer Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. He also played piano on "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", and every album by Nancy Sinatra as well as being a member of her touring band for decades, and the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" and "God Only Knows". His piano playing features heavily on the Buffalo Springfield songs "Expecting to Fly" and "Broken Arrow". He claims to have played on over three hundred hit records, working with musicians such as Linda Ronstadt, Quincy Jones, Cannonball Adderley, Herb Alpert, Sarah Vaughan, Lee Hazlewood and Frank Zappa. He recorded albums of piano jazz under his own name and as the leader of a trio with Leroy Vinnegar and Mel Lewis. These included Feelin' Like Blues, Where Do We Go From Here, Last Night, Revolver Jazz, and Love Theme From "Romeo And Juliet". Randi also wrote film scores during the 1970s, including Bloody Mama, Up in the Cellar, J. W. Coop, Stacey, and Santee. In 1970, he opened The Baked Potatojazz club in Studio City, California, and formed his own group, Don Randi and Quest, as the house band. The band have subsequently recorded over 15 albums and were nominated for a Grammy in 1980 for the albumNew Baby. In 2010, The Baked Potato was named Best Jazz Club in Los Angeles magazine. In 2008, as a member of the Wrecking Crew, Randi was inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk. His daughter is musician Leah Randi. Recently Don Randi, along with fellow Wrecking Crew members Don Peake and Chuck Berghofer and in conjunction with Denny Tedesco have been performing around the Los Angeles area with their “ Wrecking Crew farewell to Glen Campbell” live shows.
