Richard Baratta

Grammy Nomimated Richard Baratta was born into a musically oriented family in Poughkeepsie, NY in 1950. He began his musical journey at the age 12, playing saxophone, flute and drums, and eventually, exclusively drums. He played mostly jazz  all through his teens. After earning a BA in History from Wagner College in 1973, and after studying with Jack DeJohnette, Bob Moses and Steve Haas he moved to NYC in 1975 to pursue his musical career. From 1975 to 1984 Baratta played gigs and recorded in and out of NYC. Some of his bandmates and associations were with John Stubblefield, Joe Ford, Frank Strozier, Hal Galper, Mike Richmond, Saheb Sarbib, Dennis Irwin, Vernon Reid, Billy Bang, Jack Wilkens, Ryo Kawasaki, Jessica Hagedorn and the Gangster Choir, Guilherme Franco, Pe De Boi, Cyro Baptista, and a very memorable one day hit with Hank Mobley and  then Johnny Hartman.

In 1984, Baratta decided to dramatically alter paths, and pursued a career in movie production. "Money was tight, the gigs were hard to come by, and I was getting married and wanted to raise a family. It was just time for a very difficult decision that had to be made. I looked back many times and terribly missed the joy in playing and the camaraderie with the musicians. It was a total about face, but I have no regrets, except missing the live performance."

Since working on his his first film, Desperately Seeking Susan in 1984, Baratta has worked on over 50 movies, first as a Location Manager, then Unit Production Manager, and for the past 15 years as a Co-Producer and Executive Producer. A small sampling of his  filmography includes, Academy Award nominated Joker, Joaquin Phoenix winning the Best Actor Award, Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award nominated The Irishman, Dr. Strange, The Wolf of Wall Street, five Spiderman movies,Too Big To Fail, Smurfs, Taking Pelham 123, Across the Universe, Donnie Brasco, Working Girl, Big, & A Paracosm.

The past 35 years of movie making never prevented Baratta from regularly listening to and attending music almost all the clubs in NYC and festivals elsewhere. As best he could, he tried to maintain relationships with his past bandmates and stay up on the jazz scene. However, with the exception of the occasional one nite gig every few years, Baratta essentially remained on the sidelines when it came to performing. Then a very fortuitous event occurred.

An opportunity presented itself in the fall of 2016 that changed everything. He decided to return to his roots and main love and began performing music again, while continuing to produce films. From December 2016 to the present he has played with Eric Alexander, Vincent Herring, Walter Blanding, Craig Handy, Marcus Printup, Bruce Harris, Gerald Cannon, Bill O’Connell, Emmett Cohen, Jeb Patton, Steve Ash, Chris Pattishal, Mike LeDonne, Ray Gallon, Dave Kikoski, Danny Nimmer, Jerry Weldon, Rogerio Bocatto, Paul Bollenback, Dave Stryker, John Patitucci, Mike Goetz, Essiet Essiet, Yoshi Waki, and many others. From Baratta’s lips, “I’m telling you, I’m in heaven. I just want to keep it going. A light bulb has gone off in my head and the music seems clearer, fresher and more illuminating than ever.”

Baratta currently resides in Tenafly, N.J. He has recorded four records since 2019, (see discography) and has been leading his two different bands, THE GOTHAM CITY LATIN JAZZ SEPTET, AND THE 3B’s + 2, in Jazz Clubs, Music Festivals, Summer Concerts, etc. on a regular basis. Keep your eyes and ears open, and catch his music live or on Savant/High Note Records