RICHARD BARATTA
Starting in the mid-’70s, Richard Baratta worked as a jazz drummer in New York, but in the mid-’80s he switched fields and went into movie production, and became very successful. His credits as a co-producer or executive producer include “Joker,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “The Irishman” and “Across the Universe.”
About five years ago, he started playing music again while continuing to work in film. And last year, he released an album titled Music in Film: The Reel Deal, featuring jazz versions of songs associated with movies, including “Alfie,” “Theme From ‘The Godfather’,” “Everybody’s Talkin’ ” (from “Midnight Cowboy”), “Maria” (from “West Side Story”) and “If I Only Had a Brain” (from “The Wizard of Oz”).
You can listen to “If I Only Had a Brain” below.
Baratta, who lives in Tenafly, will perform with his quartet (featuring pianist Bill O’Connell, bassist Michael Goetz and percussionist Paul Rossman) at the Madison Community Arts Center, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. The event has the same title as the album, “Music in Film: The Reel Deal,” and will include a question-and-answer session.
For information, visit madisonartsnj.org.
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