Randy Waldman
Encyclopedia
Randy Waldman is a Grammy Award
-winning American
pianist
, arranger, composer
and conductor
. He is also an airplane and helicopter pilot and holds a 2003 flight speed record in a Bell OH-58 helicopter.
band while still in high school. At the age of 21, he was hired to go on tour as the pianist for Frank Sinatra
.
The Lettermen
then hired Waldman to go on tour from Chicago to Los Angeles, whereupon he decided to make Los Angeles his home. Within his first year of relocating to the west coast, Waldman toured with Minnie Riperton
, Lou Rawls
, Paul Anka
, and George Benson
, the latter of whom hired Waldman to be his musical director and arranger for the next seven years.
In 1977, the word started to spread about Waldman in the Los Angeles studio scene, launching a prolific session career spanning over 30 years. He has performed on hundreds of albums, motion picture soundtracks, and jingles. Concurrently, Waldman branched into songwriting, arranging and producing on soundtracks such as Weekend at Bernie's
, Salsa
and Nuts
.
In 1983, Waldman was nominated for a Grammy for Best Vocal Arrangement for Manhattan Transfer
’s Code of Ethics. A few years later, Waldman’s co-arrangement of the West Side Story
song “Somewhere
,” on Barbra Streisand
’s The Broadway Album
, won a Grammy in 1985. Waldman has been Streisand’s pianist for over 20 years and is featured on all her albums, movies and live performances.
After many years working on other artists’ albums, Waldman decided to release his own work. In 1998, Waldman released his first solo album, Wigged Out, featuring bassist John Pattitucci and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta
. He subsequently signed to Concord Jazz and issued the follow-up, Unreel, in 2001 and Timing is Everything, in 2003.
Waldman played piano (and occasionally trumpet) on a wide variety of recordings by high-profile artists such as Barbra Streisand
, Michael Jackson
, Celine Dion
, Madonna
, Whitney Houston
, Olivia Newton John, Barry Manilow
, Ray Charles
, Michael Bublé
, Quincy Jones
, Johnny Mathis
, Stevie Wonder
, Andrea Bocelli
and countless others. He has performed on hundreds of major studio film soundtracks including Forrest Gump
, Back to the Future
, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
, Ice Age
, The Bodyguard
, Beetlejuice
, Mission Impossible, Romancing the Stone
, The Abyss
, and Titanic
. In 2007, he was the musical director for Josh Groban
’s Awake
concert tour.
In May 2010, Randy was listed at #50 on the list of 100 Greatest Jazz Pianists on music website Digital Dream Door.
In February 2011, Randy served as Music Director for Barbra Streisand, who was honored as the Grammy Foundation's MusiCares 2011 Person of the Year. At the event, Ms. Streisand thanked Randy Waldman, who has served as her musical director for 25 years.
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, arranger, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
. He is also an airplane and helicopter pilot and holds a 2003 flight speed record in a Bell OH-58 helicopter.
Career
Waldman began playing piano at age five, was hired to demonstrate pianos at a local piano store at age 12, and performed with the Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
band while still in high school. At the age of 21, he was hired to go on tour as the pianist for Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
.
The Lettermen
The Lettermen
The Lettermen are an American male pop music vocal trio. The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959...
then hired Waldman to go on tour from Chicago to Los Angeles, whereupon he decided to make Los Angeles his home. Within his first year of relocating to the west coast, Waldman toured with Minnie Riperton
Minnie Riperton
Minnie Julia Riperton was an American singer-songwriter best known for her 1975 single "Lovin' You". She was married to songwriter and music producer Richard Rudolph from 1972 until her death in the summer of 1979. They had two children - music engineer Marc Rudolph and actress/comedienne Maya...
, Lou Rawls
Lou Rawls
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...
, Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
, and George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, the latter of whom hired Waldman to be his musical director and arranger for the next seven years.
In 1977, the word started to spread about Waldman in the Los Angeles studio scene, launching a prolific session career spanning over 30 years. He has performed on hundreds of albums, motion picture soundtracks, and jingles. Concurrently, Waldman branched into songwriting, arranging and producing on soundtracks such as Weekend at Bernie's
Weekend at Bernie's
Weekend at Bernie's is a 1989 American comedy film directed by Ted Kotcheff. A comedy starring Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman features the two as a couple of young insurance agency employees who discover their boss is deceased...
, Salsa
Salsa (1988 film)
Salsa is a 1988 romance film about a lower-class Puerto Rican dancer who decides to improve his lot in life by entering a salsa dancing contest. The film was directed by Boaz Davidson, and stars Robi Rosa, Rodney Harvey, and Angela Alvarado...
and Nuts
Nuts (film)
Nuts is a 1987 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Barbra Streisand and Richard Dreyfuss. The screenplay by Tom Topor, Darryl Ponicsan, and Alvin Sargent is based on Topor's 1979 play of the same title...
.
In 1983, Waldman was nominated for a Grammy for Best Vocal Arrangement for Manhattan Transfer
Manhattan Transfer
Manhattan Transfer may refer to:* Manhattan Transfer , a Pennsylvania Railroad station in New Jersey* Manhattan Transfer , a 1925 novel by John Dos Passos* The Manhattan Transfer, a jazz, swing, R&B and pop group founded in 1969...
’s Code of Ethics. A few years later, Waldman’s co-arrangement of the West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
song “Somewhere
Somewhere (song)
"Somewhere" is a song from the 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story which was made into a film in 1961. The music is composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and takes a phrase from the slow movement of Beethoven's 'Emperor' Piano Concerto, which forms the start of the...
,” on Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
’s The Broadway Album
The Broadway Album
The Broadway Album is the twenty-fourth studio album by director, composer, actress and singer Barbra Streisand, released by Columbia Records on November 4, 1985. Consisting mainly of classic show tunes, the album marked a major shift in Barbra Streisand's career. Streisand had spent ten years...
, won a Grammy in 1985. Waldman has been Streisand’s pianist for over 20 years and is featured on all her albums, movies and live performances.
After many years working on other artists’ albums, Waldman decided to release his own work. In 1998, Waldman released his first solo album, Wigged Out, featuring bassist John Pattitucci and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta
Vinnie Colaiuta
Vincent Colaiuta is an American drummer based in Los Angeles. Originally from Republic, Pennsylvania, he began playing drums as a child and received his first full drum kit from his parents at the age of 14...
. He subsequently signed to Concord Jazz and issued the follow-up, Unreel, in 2001 and Timing is Everything, in 2003.
Waldman played piano (and occasionally trumpet) on a wide variety of recordings by high-profile artists such as Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
, Olivia Newton John, Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé
Michael Steven Bublé is a Canadian singer. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards and multiple Juno Awards. His first album reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. He found worldwide commercial success with his 2005 album It's Time, and his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible was...
, Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....
and countless others. He has performed on hundreds of major studio film soundtracks including Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
, Back to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
, Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
, The Bodyguard
The Bodyguard
The Bodyguard is a 1992 American romantic-thriller film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Costner stars as a former Secret Service Agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect Houston's character, a music star, from an unknown stalker. Lawrence Kasdan wrote the film in the 1970s,...
, Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice is a 1988 American comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton, produced by The Geffen Film Company and distributed by Warner Bros...
, Mission Impossible, Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone is a 1984 American action-adventure romantic comedy. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film was followed by a 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile....
, The Abyss
The Abyss
The Abyss is a 1989 science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron. It stars Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. The original musical score was composed by Alan Silvestri...
, and Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
. In 2007, he was the musical director for Josh Groban
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...
’s Awake
Awake
Wakefulness is a daily recurring brain state and state of consciousness in which an individual is conscious and engages in a coherent cognitive and behavior responses to the external world such as communication, ambulation, nutritional ingestion and procreation...
concert tour.
In May 2010, Randy was listed at #50 on the list of 100 Greatest Jazz Pianists on music website Digital Dream Door.
In February 2011, Randy served as Music Director for Barbra Streisand, who was honored as the Grammy Foundation's MusiCares 2011 Person of the Year. At the event, Ms. Streisand thanked Randy Waldman, who has served as her musical director for 25 years.