Ken Rich (born 1967 in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...
, United States) is an American producer, engineer, composer and musician. He began playing violin at age five, tuba at age nine and moved on to the electric bass at age 15. After majoring in philosophy at
Oberlin College while pursuing intensive jazz studies with
Wendell Logan
Wendell Morris Logan (November 24, 1940 – June 15, 2010), was an American jazz and concert music composer who created the jazz department at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Biography
Wendell Logan was born in Thomson, Georgia on Nov ...
and
Donald Byrd, he moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1991. He quickly ensconced himself in the session and live music scene of New York playing bass on
David Byrne's "It Goes Back", "Offbeat - a Red Hot Soundtrip",
Shabba Ranks
Shabba Ranks (born Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon; 17 January 1966) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was one of the most popular Jamaican musicians in the world. Throughout his prominence in his home cou ...
' 1993 Grammy Award-winning album "X-Tra Naked", and
Laurie Anderson
Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...
's "In Our Sleep" with
Lou Reed. Mr. Rich was a member of
Babatunde Olatunji
Michael Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist.
Early life
Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nige ...
’s NYC-based band from 1994 until Olatunji's death in 2004.
Those sessions inspired Rich to develop his own home studios in the
East Village and
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
apartments where he produced
Joseph Arthur
Joseph Arthur (born September 28, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. He is best known for his solo material, and as a member of Fistful of Mercy and RNDM. Arthur has built his reputation over the years through ...
’s album “
Our Shadows Will Remain” which was voted
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
’s Album of the Year in 2004 and Chris Rubin’s (
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
) Number One album of 2004. He also co-produced Mr. Arthur’s “You’re so True” which appeared on the Grammy-nominated Shrek 2 Soundtrack. From those home studios, Mr. Rich also produced
Tracy Bonham
Tracy Bonham (born March 16, 1967) is an American alternative rock musician, best known for her 1996 single "Mother Mother".
Raised in Eugene, Oregon, Bonham is a classically trained violinist and pianist, and is also a self-taught guitarist. S ...
’s “Blink The Brightest” (Zoe Records), Rene Lopez's “One Man’s Year”, and Morley's “Days Like These” (Universal France) which Time magazine said “embodies modern-day NY femininity in all its multicultural finesse”.
In 2007, Ken Rich opened Grand Street Recording in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. As of the 2020 United ...
where his credits include
Ani DiFranco “Red Letter Year” (Righteous Babe Records-2008),
The Gutter Twins “Saturnalia” (Sub-Pop-2008), Lucinda Black Bear “Capo My Heart and Other Bear Songs” (2008), Noe Venable Summer Storm Journals (2008), Fionnn O’Lochlainn “Spawn of the Beast” (2008), The Compulsions EPs Laughter From Below (2004), Demon Love-2008, and High as Hell (2009), William Hart Strecker “Smoke and Clouds” (2005) and “All This Dreaming” (2007), Ward White “”Pulling Out” (2008), Greg Tannen “Rocket” (2008),
The Key Party's Hit or Miss, named CMJ album of the day (CMJ 2007) and the SF Chronicle's Download of the Week in 2007. and “My Blacks Don’t Match” (2009), and the Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout's 7” ep featuring
Leah Siegel (2009),
In 2008, Rich's score and sound design for Alex Lyras's play “The Common Air” were nominated for 2008 Garland Awards and won the 2008 Ovation Award
for Intimate Theater and the 2008 L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Sound Design.
Ken Rich continues to produce, engineer, mix, master and still plays an occasional bass gig.
References
External links
Grand Street RecordingThe Common Air
1967 births
Living people
American male musicians
Oberlin College alumni
{{US-musician-stub