Richard Baratta ’73 is a film industry veteran with a long and distinguished list of credits dating back to “Desperately Seeking Susan” and most recently including “Joker” and Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.”
But after a long and very fruitful career in the film business, Rich desperately wanted to return to his first love: making music — and today, he couldn’t be happier.
“I’m telling you, I’m in heaven,” he says (on his website). “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.”
That’s how Richard Baratta and his Gotham City Latin Jazz Septet came to perform in the Union Atrium at his alma mater on the night of Sept. 30, kicking off Wagner Weekend.
And, for a little late-breaking news: A track off Richard Baratta’s 2020 album, “Music in Film: The Reel Deal,” was nominated in November for a Grammy award in the category of Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella.
The track, “Chopsticks,” was arranged by the record’s music director, the masterful jazz pianist Bill O’Connell — and it may well be that, by the time this magazine reaches you, the record will already be a Grammy winner.
