It has been a year since adopted Pittsburgher Richie Cole died. On this anniversary, we’ve prepared an extended version of our celebration of the music and life of Richie Cole with love from many of his friends.

Monday night, May 3rd from 7-10pm.

In this 3 hours - music of Richie with Buddy Rich, Eddie Jefferson, Sonny Stitt, Phil Woods, Mark Murphy, the Manhattan Transfer, Bob Beldon, and from his “Pittsburgh Years,” including his recent release “Cannonball” - including Kenia, Roger Humphries, Reggie Watkins, Mark Perna, Vince Taglieri and much more. A few changes in the year past in the midst of COVID.

In Pittsburgh, the intervening year has been a rough one for musicians and venues. For example, Ray Hanus opted to close the Village Tavern, the site of Richie’s longstanding summer gig on the West End, and other venues have dropped out of the Pittsburgh Jazz circuit. Still, losing Richie early on in the pandemic times was a reminder of how connected the jazz community in Pittsburgh can be.

Alto Saxophone great Richie Cole died at his home in Carnegie, outside of Pittsburgh, the morning of Saturday, May 2, 2020..

Originally from Trenton, New Jersey, his music and career took him around the world. About 8 years ago, Richie put down roots in Pittsburgh at the encouragement of one of his daughters, Annie. That is the perspective from which the coming program will be centered.

The community of Pittsburgh and the neighboring suburb of Carnegie play a major role in the last chapter of Richie Cole’s musical career - and Richie Cole’s impact on the Pittsburgh music scene, in return.

Richie Cole started out as a young, gifted and aspiring saxophonist in New Jersey.  He won a a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music through a contest in Downbeat Magazine - then, left Berklee after just a couple of years to go on the road with the Buddy Rich Orchestra in 1969. He was on the road, often, for the next 50 plus years.

As we started to reach out to people in Richie’s life in the days after his death, some important themes became clear. Richie Cole was phenomenally talented; lived avidly in the moment and was generally quite present with whomever he was with; he had a special gift for bringing people together.  

This program to celebrate Richie Cole was first going to be an hour. Then, two.  Now, a final “expanded edition” to three hours - of conversation, testimonials, a eulogy from one of his bandmates in the Buddy Rich Band from 1969, insights from his daughter Annie, and of course, Music. A lot of music.

It is staggering to examine the depth and breadth of experience Riche’s career. When he started out - Ellington and Louis Armstrong were actively touring. Jazz Festivals were booming. By the late 70’s, Richie’s collaborations with Eddie Jefferson and the Manhattan Transfer were immensely popular - and his “Hollywood Madness” record was a major jazz hit.

On May 9, 1979, Richie’s collaborator and partner Eddie Jefferson was killed in a senseless shooting outside of Baker’s Keyboard Lounge in Detroit. Eddie, it is said, died in Richie’s arms. Music, joy, and tragedy were coupled together for Riche and as you’ll hear in the stories on this program, music and joy, combined with music and joy from and with others, too, made for a very talented and human life.

This is the “extended cut” of this remembrance and celebration of Richie - and as more and more insights have poured in and friends have shared, we’ve pulled out the seams a bit and made this a 3 hour program. We visit with Richie’s daughter, Annie Cole, plus bassist Mark Perna, drummers Vince Taglieri and Roger Humphries; saxophonists Tony Campbell, Rex Trimm, Don Aliquo Sr and Kenny Blake; Trombonist Reggie Watkins, vocalist Kenia, guitarist and Con Alma Curator John Shannon; Ray Hanis from the Village Tavern; record producer and trumpeter Dave Love - and from the 1969 Buddy Rich Band - trumpeter Mike Price - who also shared a eulogy for Richie that we’ll read - which give some keen insights into Richie’s early years.

Composer, trumpeter and bandleader Mike Price Toured with Richie Cole in the Buddy Rich Band in 1969-1970. He also played first trumpet in Stan Kenton’s band and was an original member of the Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band. Mike shared a eulogy on Richie’s Facebook Page, and agreed to let us share it, too. It is a keen insight into his and our friend, who was and is, also, a musical legend:

A Eulogy for Richie Cole

My friend for over 50 years…He was my colleague on the Buddy Rich band during 1969 & 1970…….We were always seeking the jam session after the gig…..

But it was what happened after he left Buddy’s band that was the real beginning of the Richie Cole story. Back in the Berklee School of Music days, we all wanted to play, we all practiced at all times of day and night, and several of us were fortunate to land some great gigs following school. One of the most prized ones at the time was to be a member of the Buddy Rich band. It was really the peak and we were fortunate, proud, and happy to be a part of it.

But what came with that was the necessary formulation of a plan to follow everyone’s inevitable departure from continual touring. Many guys went to one of the music business centers hoping to develop a career playing in the studios or some creative outlet in another way, or many found that in teaching. In the early 1970’s there were not a lot of opportunities to develop as an emerging jazz soloist. The first generation of jazz stars was still alive, active, and playing great. The competition was formidable.

This is why Richie’s story is so unique. After leaving organized touring, Richie bought a van. That van became his transportation, his office, his practice room, and sleeping quarters for at least the next two decades. Richie wanted to play and was determined to do so. He traveled everywhere in the United States and found musicians in every major metropolis, mid-size cities, and small towns where there were only a handful of “cats” ready to play when Richie came to town. Surviving by gathering the essentials, some for food and enough for gas to the next town on his schedule. And there was a schedule of sorts. The “cats” in the various places were inspired by his energy and enthusiasm. Richie could create a “jazz scene” where before there was none. Sometimes jazz musicians are too exclusive about where they play and with whom they play. Richie accomplished great things by being exactly the opposite, inclusive to the extreme. His warm, generous heart welcomed all to the bandstand, and all developed and became better musicians for it. And that generous heart also encompassed his audience who became his loving, perennial fans.

This period continued during the 70’s and 80’s, and perhaps into the 90’s. (I had moved to Tokyo by then so it was some years later when I reconnected with Richie) It was during the 70’s that Richie began his association with another American original, jazz singer and lyricist Eddie Jefferson. Sometime around 1977 or 78 that Richie honored me with an invitation to sit in with he and Eddie at the Parisian Room in Los Angeles. Thank you Richie for that memorable night! His collaboration with Eddie brought both to the forefront of the jazz world. The tragic loss of Eddie was an immeasurable blow to Richie. “On the Road,” Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel seemed to embody an aspect of the American character seeking the indefinable, freedom of the soul. It has seemed to me for many years that Richie Cole virtually stepped out of the pages of Kerouac’s narrative and became the realization of an epoch in jazz history. Richie charted a course which was unique to the decades from which he emerged. His path could only have happened in that time and Richie was the personality to have found it. His music is as warm and uninhibited as his character was, and his life story will be beyond the borders of music history and find its way into the book of American legend ! We all will miss him so much!

Mike Price © Mike Price 2020

Richie’s daughter Amanda Marrazzo is a gifted and experienced reporter and writer and has composed the notice for her father at the site for the Szafranski-Eberlein Funeral Home in Carnegie

We will post more memories and music here, as we can.

Remembering Richie Cole - the Extended edition - Monday night, May 3 from 7-10pm ET on WZUM.

https://downbeat.com/news/detail/saxophonist-richie-cole-dies-at-72?

https://jazzbuffalo.org/2020/05/02/alto-sax-master-richie-cole-has-died-at-the-age-of-72/

https://jazztimes.com/features/tributes-and-obituaries/richie-cole-1948-2020/

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/obituaries/2020/05/07/Richie-Cole-obituary-Pittsburgh-jazz-sax-Alto-Madness/stories/202005070179?