Rick Krizman profile picture

Rick Krizman

About Me

Rick has been a composer, producer and musician in Los Angeles for the past 25 years dring which time he has composed themes and underscores for numerous television shows and films, written songs for film and CD, produced records for singer-songwriters, played keyboards around town and generally made a living as a musical jack-of-all-trades, (not to mention picking up the occasional Emmy or Promax Award.) Most recently he spent 4 years as a consultant and composer for CCTV-9, China Central Television's English language channel broadcast worldwide out of Beijing. On his numerous trips to China Rick had the good fortune to meet and work with erhu virtuoso Yu Hongmei and the audio recording students at China Central Conservatory. Together they are creating a CD entitled "Beautiful Land" which features erhu performances of traditional Americana folk music, accompanied by western musicians. Currently Rick is keeping a busy schedule, playing live with 9 piece soul band Floyd and the Flyboys, working on his own production library of traditional Chinese music, and especially enjoying writing and recording a batch of songs with his newest collaborator, the amazingly talented Rie Sinclair.

I just finished producing a new recording by the Angel City Chorale (ACC), a 120-member, multi cultural volunteer choir.
The new CD is entitled The Road Home.
This recording contains a thematically related collection of songs that explores our varied concepts of what "home" means, and contains an eclectic collection of classical, gospel and folk pieces, performed by a 100 voice choir and full band. To give back to our local communities, ACC will be donating a significant share of the CD's proceeds to OPCC , an organization that serves homeless individuals, battered women, and people living with mental illness in Los Angeles. Check it out.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 03/08/2007
Band Members: Band? What band? There is no band, I'm an independent composer/producer/keyboardist. On the other hand, the amazing thing about living here amidst all this talent is that a few phone calls can instantly assemble THE GREATEST BAND IN THE WORLD for whatever needs to go down at the moment. After 25 years it would be impossible to acknowledge all the TGBITW members but I could make a dent by mentioning Sherwood Ball, Tony Braunigal, Adrianne Leon, Rie Sinclair, Bryan Head, Dave Cartwright, Deborah Holland, Andrea Robinson, R.C. Cates, "Little Miss" Robin Mink, Jessie Cooper,"cold brothers" John Ferraro and Gary Herbig, Kenny Aronoff, Tim Pierce, erhu virtuoso Yu Hongmei, Wang Xi, all the great orchestra musicians in Beijing, Josh Sklair, Reggie McBride, Gigi Worth, Dave Marotta, Yvonne Williams, Randall Crissman, Helena Buscema, Chris Boardman, Hutch, Johnny Lee Schell, Tom Bahler, Lenny McDaniel (wherever you are), Rick Braun, David Woodford, Lee Thorenberg, Vicki Randall, Michael and Nora Perricone, Oren Waters, Herb Pedersen, Tom Sauber, Gabe Witcher, Kenny Blackwell, Jimmy Roberts, Siedah, Diane Lindsay, Nancy Felixson, Sue Fink and the Angel City Chorale, and the ten times as many names I'm neglecting to drop now because I can't remember them or they're too famous and it would seem tacky (you know, like "Aretha sang my Wheel of Fortune jingle", or something like that...) Anyhow, thanks to all, mentioned and unmentioned--you'll all always be IN THE BAND.
Influences: New Orleans R & B, Jimi, Elton John, Terry Riley, PhillipGlassPhillipGlassPhillipGlass, Stephen Foster, Scott Joplin, Seldom Scene, Debussy, Satie, Aaron Copeland, Zep, Floyd, Crimson, Procol, Van Dyke Parks, my cousin Will Mercer, Roger Miller, Ziggy Modalese, Randy Newman, Aretha, Paul Revere and the Raiders, erhu and traditional Chinese music, the Gospel tent at Jazzfest, morning's on KCRW, Jonesie's Jukebox, Clyde Clifford from KAAY in the late '60s, Firesign Theatre, those Perry Como 45's my grandma played for me when I was little, and all the great live soul bands we used to dance to in high school. And that just scratches the surface.
Sounds Like: If it sounds good, it is good.
Record Label: Feed the People

My Blog

Rie Sinclair

I just wanted to mention my newest songwriting partner. You've probably heard some of her music already on tv or maybe you have her record, "Glow", which is wonderful. We're having a great time writ...
Posted by on Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:29:00 GMT

Floyd and the Flyboys in Marina Del Rey, Sat. afternoon Feb 9

I've been playing with a great classic soul band lately, Floyd and the Flyboys. Led by guitarist Steve Zelman and featuring a killer 4 piece horn section and vocals by Gary Coppola these guys knock o...
Posted by on Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:19:00 GMT

Chinese fiddle plays classic Americana

Well, Yu Hongmei and I are back in the saddle again working on our upcoming release, "Beautiful Land". Hongmei, of course, is my friend from Bejing who is a virtuoso performer on the "erhu", the two-...
Posted by on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:22:00 GMT

"Talk to Me" (the movie)

No, it's not a plea for new friends. It's a movie you need to see. Debra dragged me to this apparently almost unheard of film and it's now perhaps my favorite movie ever. Set in the mid '60s it's a...
Posted by on Sun, 12 Aug 2007 23:04:00 GMT