A Los Angeles-based studio musician long held in high regard, Emil Richards has lent his vibraphone work to innumerable recording sessions, most often without credit, across every style of music. He began studying xylophone at the age of six, and while still a tenth grader he performed with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. After completing studies at the Hartt School of Music and Hilliard College between 1949 and 1952, he served in an Army band stationed in Japan, where he collaborated with Toshiko Akiyoshi. Subsequent engagements placed him alongside Charles Mingus, Willie Ruff, Ed Shaughnessy, Ed Thigpen, George Shearing’s Quintet from 1956 to 1958, Paul Horn from 1960 to 1964, Jimmy Witherspoon, Shorty Rogers, and numerous additional artists. During the early and middle years of the 1960s, Richards jointly directed the Hindustani Jazz Sextet alongside Don Ellis, fusing Indian classical traditions with jazz. He also belonged to Stan Kenton’s Neophonic Orchestra and the Roger Kellaway Cello Quartet, and he toured with both Frank Sinatra and Frank Zappa throughout the 1970s. As a leader, Richards recorded for Impulse between 1965 and 1966 and issued two albums on Interworld in 1994 and 1995. His personal collection exceeds 350 percussion instruments; although he has maintained a sustained interest in ethnic folk traditions, he identifies Lionel Hampton as his principal influence.
