Rick Lazaroff
Encyclopedia
Rick Alexander Lazaroff in Toronto
, Ontario
is a Canadian bassist
, musician
best known for his work with rock trio Santers.
-Canadian Alex Lazaroff and Bette Usher of Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, (January 30, 1935 - September 6, 2007). His father, Alex Lazaroff, was a prominent Canadian jazz musician with a career spanning more than half a century. Alex was well known for his work in the 1960s with the CBC Television
show, Music Hop
(with host Alex Trebek
), and for his long standing house gig at the world famous Royal York Hotel
. During his long career, Alex Lazaroff accompanied such notable performers as Chet Baker
, Lenny Breau
, Mel Tormé
, Peter Appleyard
, Moe Koffman
, Gordon Lightfoot
, Joni Mitchell
, Peggy Lee
, Oscar Peterson
, Joe Venuti, Jack Sheldon
and many more. Alex spent more than 40 years playing with band-mates (Robert) Bob Price and Norman Amadio
as the "Norman Amadio Trio". As a young child, Rick Lazaroff was given an unprecedented view of jazz artists and jazz music. Although much of his early career was in rock music, his deep respect for jazz was never far from the surface.
for whom they recorded 3 record albums and an EP (4 songs). The band split up in 1986 when Ralph was offered a chance to join Canadian rockers Triumph
and later re-grouped in 2001 for a few nightclub engagements. Before the reunion, 2 CD box sets of previously recorded songs were released in Japan and Germany which in part, spurred the interest in reforming the band.
Rick was never a conventional player and insisted on improvising wherever possible. This attitude would at times conflict with his band-mates, but his style, while unconventional was his trademark. In 1988, Ralph Santer replaced Rick Lazaroff with bassist Matthew Gerrard
and Guitarist Syl Simone, which resulted in a more pop sound. The band officially dropped the moniker "Santers" and became "Rick Santers". This change was not well received by fans, and the new line-up lasted only a few months before disbanding. The change was intended to set Ralph Santer on the path to being a solo artist, which he would successfully achieve several years later.
and Santers were managed by Bob Connolly. When Bob was looking for a band to help write and record for her, he called upon the Ralph Santers band to help. The boys co-wrote and/or played on six of the ten tracks. The resulting album was called The Lee Aaron Project
, later re-titled simply "Lee Aaron". It also featured several other popular Toronto area musicians including Buzz Sherman (formerly of Moxy) and Frank Soda.
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
is a Canadian bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
, musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
best known for his work with rock trio Santers.
Growing up
Rick Lazaroff grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to MacedonianMacedonians (ethnic group)
The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
-Canadian Alex Lazaroff and Bette Usher of Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, (January 30, 1935 - September 6, 2007). His father, Alex Lazaroff, was a prominent Canadian jazz musician with a career spanning more than half a century. Alex was well known for his work in the 1960s with the CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
show, Music Hop
Music Hop
Music Hop is a Canadian music television series which aired on CBC Television from 1963 to 1967.-Premise:Pop and rock music was featured in this series for youth, essentially a Canadian version of American Bandstand.-Production:...
(with host Alex Trebek
Alex Trebek
George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian American game show host who has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself...
), and for his long standing house gig at the world famous Royal York Hotel
Fairmont Royal York
The Fairmont Royal York Hotel, formerly the Royal York Hotel and still often so called, is a large and historic hotel in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at 100 Front Street West. Opened on June 11, 1929, the Royal York was designed by Ross and Macdonald and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway...
. During his long career, Alex Lazaroff accompanied such notable performers as Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
, Lenny Breau
Lenny Breau
Leonard Harold "Lenny" Breau was a musician, guitar player, and music educator. He was known for blending many styles of music including: jazz, country, classical and flamenco guitar...
, Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
, Peter Appleyard
Peter Appleyard
Peter Appleyard, is a Canadian jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and composer of English birth. He has spent most of his life living and performing in the city of Toronto where for many years he was a highly popular performer in the city's nightclubs and hotels...
, Moe Koffman
Moe Koffman
Moe Koffman, OC was a Canadian jazz musician and composer. He played the flute, soprano, alto and tenor saxophone and clarinet...
, Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
, Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
, Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
, Joe Venuti, Jack Sheldon
Jack Sheldon
Jack Sheldon is an American bebop and West Coast jazz trumpeter, singer, and actor. He is a trumpet player and was a comedian on The Merv Griffin Show, as well as the voice heard on several episodes of the educational music television series Schoolhouse Rock.-Biography:Sheldon was born in...
and many more. Alex spent more than 40 years playing with band-mates (Robert) Bob Price and Norman Amadio
Norman Amadio
Albert Norman Benedict "Norm" Amadio is a piano teacher, music coach, composer, arranger, session player, band leader, jazz pianist and accompanist. For a span of fifty years he worked for the CBC as an orchestra leader and musical director for many TV series...
as the "Norman Amadio Trio". As a young child, Rick Lazaroff was given an unprecedented view of jazz artists and jazz music. Although much of his early career was in rock music, his deep respect for jazz was never far from the surface.
Santers
In the summer of 1979, Rick Lazaroff joined up with Ralph and Mark Santer to form "Nouveaux Riche" which later became Santers, also known as Rick Santers Band. Santers was signed to the Canadian label Ready RecordsReady Records
Ready Records was a small but influential independent record label based out of Toronto, Canada that signed a number of New Wave and Indie rock bands from the early to mid-1980s. Focusing primarily on local Toronto-area talent, it released 7" and 12" singles, LPs and cassettes...
for whom they recorded 3 record albums and an EP (4 songs). The band split up in 1986 when Ralph was offered a chance to join Canadian rockers Triumph
Triumph (band)
Triumph is a Canadian hard rock power trio that was popular in the late 1970s through the 1980s. Eight of the band's albums were certified gold or higher, and Triumph was nominated for multiple Juno Awards, including Group of the Year Award in 1979, 1985, 1986 and 1987.Like their fellow Canadians...
and later re-grouped in 2001 for a few nightclub engagements. Before the reunion, 2 CD box sets of previously recorded songs were released in Japan and Germany which in part, spurred the interest in reforming the band.
Rick was never a conventional player and insisted on improvising wherever possible. This attitude would at times conflict with his band-mates, but his style, while unconventional was his trademark. In 1988, Ralph Santer replaced Rick Lazaroff with bassist Matthew Gerrard
Matthew Gerrard
Matthew Gerrard is a Canadian record producer and songwriter. He has written hit singles by artists such as Nick Carter , Kelly Clarkson , Hilary Duff , Eden's Crush and Jesse McCartney...
and Guitarist Syl Simone, which resulted in a more pop sound. The band officially dropped the moniker "Santers" and became "Rick Santers". This change was not well received by fans, and the new line-up lasted only a few months before disbanding. The change was intended to set Ralph Santer on the path to being a solo artist, which he would successfully achieve several years later.
Lee Aaron
Canadian "Metal Queen" Lee AaronLee Aaron
Lee Aaron , is a Canadian rock and jazz singer. She had several hits in the 1980s and early 1990s such as "Metal Queen", "Whatcha Do to My Body", and "Sex with Love".- Background :...
and Santers were managed by Bob Connolly. When Bob was looking for a band to help write and record for her, he called upon the Ralph Santers band to help. The boys co-wrote and/or played on six of the ten tracks. The resulting album was called The Lee Aaron Project
The Lee Aaron Project
The Lee Aaron Project is the first studio album by singer Lee Aaron, released in 1982 through Freedom Records and reissued as Lee Aaron on May 18, 1984 through Attic Records.-Track listing:...
, later re-titled simply "Lee Aaron". It also featured several other popular Toronto area musicians including Buzz Sherman (formerly of Moxy) and Frank Soda.
Orhan Demir
In 1989, Rick Lazaroff met Turkish born jazz guitarist Orhan Demir. Orhan's improvisational and eclectic style of jazz, mixed with his obvious Turkish influences, was extremely attractive to Rick. Orhan was well respected in the jazz community and was the recipient of several positive reviews in respected jazz magazines such as "Downbeat" and "Cadence". Along with drummer Jack Vorvis and Rick Lazaroff, Orhan recorded "Windmill", which was released in 1990. "Windmill" mixed middle eastern scales with classic be-bop rhythms. Orhan is well known for his blistering fast picking lines.Other information
Just after the break-up of Santers, Rick met singer, Darlene Watters, at a local Toronto nightclub (1988). They formed an immediate bond which led to a personal and professional alliance. Rick and Darlene were married on September 19, 2003. Although their original music was not signed to any commercial label, they continue to work in nightclubs to this day.Discography
- 1981 Shot Down In Flames - Santers
- 1982 The Lee Aaron ProjectThe Lee Aaron ProjectThe Lee Aaron Project is the first studio album by singer Lee Aaron, released in 1982 through Freedom Records and reissued as Lee Aaron on May 18, 1984 through Attic Records.-Track listing:...
- Lee AaronLee AaronLee Aaron , is a Canadian rock and jazz singer. She had several hits in the 1980s and early 1990s such as "Metal Queen", "Whatcha Do to My Body", and "Sex with Love".- Background :... - 1982 Mayday - Santers
- 1982 Racing Time - Santers
- 1984 Guitar Alley - Santers
- 1989 Windmill - Orhan DemirOrhan DemirOrhan Demir is a Canadian jazz guitarist. He has released several albums.-Brief Biography:Demir, born 1954 in Istanbul, immigrated to Canada in 1977.His albums were cited by respected magazines such as Down Beat, Option and Cadence....
- 1995 1st Shot And 2nd Shot (box set released in Germany) - Santers
- 1996 Dancing Off The Deep End - Darlene Watters
- 1996 Santers IV (box set released in Japan) - Santers
- 1999 Originals - Orhan Demir
- 1999 Top Secrecy - Santers
- 2000 Cold Fusion - Santers
- 2006 Groovistico Ballistico - Rick Lazaroff