Frederic Efrem Rich (January 31, 1898 – September 8, 1956) was a Polish-born American

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...

and composer who was active from the 1920s to the 1950s. Among the musicians in his band were the

Dorsey Brothers The Dorsey Brothers were an American studio dance band, led by Tommy Dorsey, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. They started recording in 1928 for OKeh Records. History The Dorsey Brothers recorded songs for the dime store labels (Banner Records, Banner, C ...

Joe Venuti Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist. Considered the father of jazz violin, he pioneered the use of string instruments in jazz along with the guitarist Eddie La ...

Bunny Berigan Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan (November 2, 1908 – June 2, 1942) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who rose to fame during the swing era. His career and influence were shortened by alcoholism, and ended with his early demise at the ...

, and

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

. In the early 1930s, Elmer Feldkamp was one of his vocalists.

Early life

Rich was born in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, Poland. He settled with his parents in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and showed an early proficiency for music. He studied at the Damrosch Conservatory of Music and led an orchestra at the

Hotel Astor Hotel Astor was a hotel on Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1905 and expanded in 1909–1910 for the Astor family, the hotel occupied a site bounded by Broadway, Shubert Alley, and 44th and 45th Str ...

Career

Rich was a pianist and formed his band in the early-1920s. His theme songs were "

I'm Always Chasing Rainbows "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" is a popular music, popular Vaudeville song. The music is credited to Harry Carroll, but the melody is adapted from ''Fantaisie-Impromptu'' by Frédéric Chopin. The lyrics were written by Joseph McCarthy (lyricist), ...

" and "So Beats My Heart for You." Between 1925 and 1928, he toured Europe. He enjoyed a long stay at the

Waldorf-Astoria The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultz ...

in New York City. He began leading a studio band and recorded for

Okeh Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

, Columbia,

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

, Camden, and

Vocalion Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

, often under the names Fred Richards, the Astorites, and the

Band. Rich and his band served as their house band for a time in the 1920s. In the late 1930s, he became musical director for radio stations. In 1942, he moved to a staff position with United Artists Studios in Hollywood, where he remained for most of his career. Rich's band played for several network radio programs, including ''

The Abbott and Costello Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''.Terrace, Vincent (1999). ''Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . pp. 5-7. Most of Rich's records are typical dance fare of the era. However, during the period between November 1929 and March 1931, there was a scattering of hot jazz versions of popular tunes, with notable solos by

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

Jimmy Dorsey James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards " I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary Peop ...

, and

Eddie Lang Eddie Lang (born Salvatore Massaro, October 25, 1902 – March 26, 1933) was an American musician who is credited as the father of jazz guitar. During the 1920s, he gave the guitar a prominence it previously lacked as a solo instrument, as p ...

. These celebrated recordings include "A Peach of a Pair" (October 29, 1930), "

I Got Rhythm "I Got Rhythm" is a piece composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and published in 1930, which became a jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the " rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes suc ...

" (October 29, 1930), "

Cheerful Little Earful "Cheerful Little Earful" is a 1930 song composed by Harry Warren, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Billy Rose. It was written for the musical '' Sweet and Low'' (1930). Actress and singer Fanny Brice, who was married to Billy Rose at the time, starr ...

" (November 19, 1930), and "I'm Tickled Pink with a Blue-Eyed Baby" (November 19, 1930). As Freddie Rich, he recorded dozens of popular-title piano rolls in the 1920s for the Aeolian Company, both for its reproducing

Duo-Art Duo-Art was one of the leading reproducing piano technologies of the early 20th century, the others being American Piano Company (Ampico), introduced in 1913 too, and Welte-Mignon in 1905. These technologies flourished at that time because of th ...

system and its 88 note Mel-O-Dee label. Rich also contributed to the composition of a novelty song "

I'm Just Wild About Animal Crackers "I'm Just Wild About Animal Crackers" is a 1926 novelty song by Fred Rich, Harry Link, and Sam Coslow. It was first recorded by Irving Aaronson and his Commanders. Around the release of the song, A&P Stores and Henry Waterson Inc. arranged to sel ...

". He has a number of song credits to his name, including "Blue Tahitian Moonlight," "Time Will Tell", and "On the Riviera." He also wrote scores for movies.

Personal life

In 1945, Rich was badly injured when he suffered a fall, and as a result he suffered from partial paralysis. But despite this, Rich continued to lead studio bands into the 1950s. Fred Rich died on September 8, 1956, in California, at the age of 58 after a long illness.

Nominations

*1943 - Nominated for

Academy Award for Original Music Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by t ...

(Scoring of a Musical Picture) for ''

Stage Door Canteen The Stage Door Canteen was an entertainment venue for American and Allied servicemen that operated in the Broadway theatre district of New York City throughout World War II. Founded by the American Theatre Wing (ATW) in 1942, the entertainers we ...

'' *1944 - Nominated for

(Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) for ''

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

References

External links

*
Fred Rich recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rich, Freddie 1898 births 1956 deaths Musicians from Warsaw American jazz bandleaders American jazz composers American male jazz composers American film score composers American male film score composers 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians Polish emigrants to the United States American male conductors (music) 20th-century jazz composers