Randy Klein (born September 9, 1949) is an American musician, composer, pianist, author, and educator.

Music career

Klein was born in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Union City and Fort Lee. At 14, he performed with local rock group The Good Things and played in the

Fort Lee High School Fort Lee High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school that serves students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grade, located in Fort Lee, New Je ...

marching band. He attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in Boston from 1967 to 1971. He taught at Berklee from 1971 to 1973 under the supervision of

John LaPorta John Daniel LaPorta (April 13, 1920 – May 12, 2004) was a jazz clarinetist and composer. Early life and education A native of Philadelphia, LaPorta started playing clarinet at the age of nine and studied at the Mastbaum School in Philadelphia, ...

. He performed with singer-songwriter Ralph Graham until 1976. In 1977, he moved to New York City and played keyboard for legendary R&B performer

Millie Jackson Mildred Virginia Jackson (born July 15, 1944) is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and Soul music, soul recording artist. Beginning her career in the early 1960s, three of Jackson's albums have been certified Music recording certification, gold ...

. Klein toured with Jackson until 1980, contributing songs for her albums including '' Feelin' Bitchy,

Get It Out'cha System ''Get It Out'cha System'' is a 1978 album by singer-songwriter Millie Jackson. David Van DePitte was responsible for the string and horn arrangements. It peaked at #55 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Track listings #"Go Out and Get Some (Get It Ou ...

Live & Uncensored ''Live & Uncensored'' is a live album by Millie Jackson recorded in concert at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The album shows what her shows were like, from tender romantic ballads to explicit recreations of classical pieces. The ...

E.S.P. (Extra Sexual Persuasion) ''E.S.P. (Extra Sexual Persuasion)'' is a Millie Jackson album released in 1983. In addition to her signature soul music songs, it also includes somewhat more Hi-NRG and Funk dance song production popular at the time such as "This Girl Could Be Da ...

, For Men Only.'' Since 1981, he has contributed songs to albums by

Sarah Dash Sarah Dash (August 18, 1945 – September 20, 2021) was an American singer and actress. She first appeared on the music scene as a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles. Dash was later a member of Labelle, and worked as a singer, sess ...

Candi Staton Canzetta Maria "Candi" Staton (, ) (born March 13, 1940) is an American singer–songwriter, best known in the United States for her 1970 remake of Tammy Wynette's " Stand by Your Man" and her 1976 disco chart-topper "Young Hearts Run Free". In E ...

, IRT,

Memphis Bleek Malik Deshawn Cox (born June 23, 1978), known by his stage name Memphis Bleek, is an American rapper who was a protégé of fellow New York rapper Jay-Z. Cox started his own labels: Get Low Records in 1998, and #Warehouse Music Group, Warehouse M ...

, JX,

Black Sheep In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...

Lil Kim Lil or LIL may refer to: Use as a short form of "little" Artists * Lill Babs, Swedish musician *Lil B, American rapper * Lil'B, Japanese pop duo *Lil Baby, American rapper *Lil Bibby, American rapper * Lil Bitts, Trinidadian musician *Li ...

, and

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

television programs Ticktock Minutes and

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

. In 1992, Klein founded Jazzheads, an independent music label based in New York City. To date, the label has a catalog of 100+ titles with Grammy nominations, Downbeat Critics awards, and Jazz Journalist awards. He has released multiple solo piano improvisation recordings, and two albums consisting of duo performances with saxophonist Oleg Kireyev, trombonist Chris Washburne, electric bass guitarist Boris Koslov, and guitarist

Alex Skolnick Alex Skolnick (born September 29, 1968) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist and one of the songwriters of the thrash metal band Testament and has played with several other bands, including The Alex Skolnick Trio, Tra ...

. He is the winner of

Gold Record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...

s for songs recorded by Polydor recording artist Millie Jackson. He has won four Southern Regional Emmy Awards - "Outstanding Achievement: Individual Excellence - Composer" for his original score to the PBS film-documentary Richard Wright (Black Boy), and three "Outstanding Collaborative Achievement - Composer" awards for his work on Ticktock Minutes (PBS). Ticktock Minutes also won the 1998 National

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Best Public Service Announcement. In 2017, his composition Fanfare For Jerusalem premiered at

The Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

. He is the composer of For My People, a song cycle featuring the poetry of American author

Margaret Walker Margaret Walker (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander by marriage; July 7, 1915 – November 30, 1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. H ...

. His compositions, Facing It (based on the poetry of

Yusef Komunyakaa Yusef Komunyakaa (born James William Brown; April 29, 1941) is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for ''Neo ...

) and Dear John, Dear Coltrane (based on the poetry of

Michael Harper Michael Harper may refer to: *Michael Harper (cricketer) (born 1945), South African cricketer *Michael Harper (priest) (1931–2010), English charismatic Anglican, later an Orthodox priest *Michael S. Harper (1938–2016), African-American poet *Mi ...

) premiered at the 2014 Furious Flower Poetry Conference featuring the combined James Madison University and Morgan State Chorales. His documentary film scores include: National Emmy Award winner Free To Dance (PBS Great Performances) and National Emmy Award winner Beyond Tara – The Extraordinary Life Of

Hattie McDaniel Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893October 26, 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian. For her role as Mammy in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African ...

(American Movie Classics) and Richard Wright – Black Boy (PBS/BBC production). His music can be heard at the Burial Ground Museum in lower Manhattan and at the Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, NC. His musical theater works include composing music for Fancy Nancy ‘Splendiferous’ Christmas (based on the popular

Fancy Nancy ''Fancy Nancy'' is a 2005 children's literature, children's picture book series written by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. Its first book entry spent nearly 100 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, resulting in th ...

book series by Jane O'Connor, illustrated by

Robin Preiss Glasser Robin Preiss Glasser (born 1956) is an American illustrator, best known for her work on the ''Fancy Nancy'' series of children's picture books (from 2005), written by Jane O'Connor. Biography Glasser was raised in a Jewish family in Poughkeepsie, ...

) at the Vital Musical Theatre, NYC 2014 – 2016, Music for Twinkle Tames A Dragon at the Vital Musical Theatre (based on the children's book series by

Katharine Holabird Katharine Holabird (born January 23, 1948) is an American writer, best known as the author of the ''Angelina Ballerina'' series, illustrated by Helen Craig, and the ''Twinkle'' series, illustrated by Sharon Williams. Early life and education Bo ...

), NYC 2016 – 2017. He wrote music to Flambe Dreams, which has been performed in readings and workshops since 2006, and Ever Happily After – 2013

New York Musical Theatre Festival The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) was an annual three-week summer festival that operated from 2004 to 2019. It presented more than 30 new musicals a year in New York City's midtown theater district. More than half were chosen by leading theate ...

(NYMF). In 2017, Klein authored ''The Quickstart Guide to Writing a Song'', an educational manual on songwriting. He has also been published by American Songwriter Magazine (''The Star Spangled Banner Is Not A Song, Or Is It?)'', and Music Alive magazine (''Can You Ear It?'').

Discography

*''While I Was Waiting'' (1986) *''Spacial Glacier'' (1986) *''Randy Klein's Jazzheads'' (1993) *''Love Notes From The Bass'' with

Harvie S Harvie S (born Harvie Swartz; December 6, 1948) is an American jazz double-bassist. He learned piano as a child and did not begin playing bass until 1967, when he was nineteen years old. Scott Yanow, Harvie Swartzat Allmusic He attended Berkle ...

wartz (1994) *''Underground Romantic'' (1998) *''Just My Imagination'' (1998) *''Invitation In'' (2004) *''Piano Christmas!'' (2005) *''The Flowing'' (2008) *''Sunday Morning'' with Chris Washburne and Oleg Kireyev (2010) *''What's Next'' with

and

Boris Kozlov Boris Kozlov is a Russian-born jazz bassist. Biography Born in Moscow, USSR on December 5, 1967, Kozlov studied piano at Children's Music School before switching to bass. Kozlov won the Gnesin Music Academy Competition which enabled him to enter ...

(2012) *''Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas Original Cast Album'' (2015) *''Kleinway@Steinway'' (2016)

Selected credits

- '' Feelin' Bitchy'' (Southbound, 1977) * Millie Jackson - ''

'' (Spring Records, 1978) *

- ''Candi Staton'' (Warner Bros., 1980) * Millie Jackson - ''For Men Only'' (Polydor, 1980) * Millie Jackson - ''

'' (Spring/Polydor, 1983) * Mud, Sweat, and Jeers - ''Every Dawg Has Its Day'' (RCA, 1985) * IRT - ''Watch The Closing Doors'' (RCA/Victor, 1985) * IRT - ''Made In The USA'' (RCA/Victor, 1985) * IRT - ''When Bad Things Happen'' (RCA/Victor, 1985) * Sarah Dash - ''You're All I Need'' (EMI, 1988) * Black Sheep - ''A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing'' (Mercury, 1991) * Sesame Street - ''Rhyming Tap Rap'' featuring

Savion Glover Savion Glover (born November 19, 1973) is an American tap dancer, actor, and choreographer. Early life The youngest of three sons, Glover was born to a white father, who left the family before he was born, and a black mother. Glover's great grand ...

(PBS, 1991) * JX - ''Close To Your Heart'' (Motor Music, 1997) * Millie Jackson - ''Totally Unrestricted! the Millie Jackson Anthology'' (Rhino Records, 1997) * ''Ticktock Minutes'' (PBS, 1995-2001) * Millie Jackson - ''Sex And Soul'' (House Of Hits/BMG, 2000) * Memphis Bleek - ''534'' (Roc-A-Fella, 2005) * Lil' Kim - ''The Naked Truth'' (Atlantic, 2005) * ''Michael Earl Sings Songs About Famous People'' (King Kozmo, 2015)

References

External links

Official site

Allmusic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Randy 1949 births Living people American jazz composers Berklee College of Music alumni American male jazz composers Jazz musicians from New Jersey People from Fort Lee, New Jersey People from Union City, New Jersey Fort Lee High School alumni