Jazz On The Go

Growing up in an Italian family, music was a big part of everyday life and was the center of all family gatherings.  Rick's fondest childhood memories included at the age of 6 playing drums at holiday gatherings.  So, for this Bay Area drummer, music has always been a huge part of his life.  Influenced by many fantastic musicians, Rick studied with the legendary jazz drummer Ed Shaughnessy, jazz pioneer and educator John DeFoor and Hal Reese, Fox Studio’s principal percussionist.  When asked, who is your favorite Jazz Drummer, Rick without hesitation exclaims Connie Kay.  Kay is well known musically for his subtle constant contributions which became an invaluable asset to everyone creative sound.

As an undergraduate, Rick was a key member of the Cal Poly Pomona jazz band, a performing group touring throughout the southwest. In addition he played in pit orchestra ensembles, the marching band and symphony orchestra while at Cal Poly. During that time Rick co-founded and performed with "Something Extra with Jan", a 5-piece show group performing and touring throughout the Southern California area. This well-known popular group continued to perform for more than 30 years. For the last 15 years, most nights you could find this highly skilled professional performing with many of the Bay Area’s Jazz Ensembles or in Southern California as a percussionist with the high energy horn band.  In addition, Rick is an avid singer and performed with Stanford Symphonic Chorus for 12 seasons.

Today since moving to Carmel in the Fall of 2019 Rick has met and got to perform with some of the finest Monterey Bay musicians.  In 2022 Rick announced In The Monterey Mix was established to accommodate our clients on the Monterey Peninsula.  It includes a core of “In The Mix” musicians and where needed Rick rounds out the group with fantastic local Monterey Bay talent providing the same high quality experience. 

You can catch this drummer in action in the San Francisco Bay Area monthly on Thursday night, performing monthly with the Enoteca Jazz at Donato Enoteca and on Thursday night, performing with In The Mix at CRU Wine Bar and Eatery both in Redwood City.

Here's what musicians have to say: “Rick sets the rhythm pattern and solid tempo allowing the solo instruments to explore their interpretation of the great American Jazz Standards”. Others go onto say “Lightly in the background his creative interpretation and complimentary rhythmic fills expand the dimensional quality of these simple melodies.”