- He was a pivotal composer/arranger for cutting edge, adventurous performances and recording sessions by Stan Kenton's big band in the 1950s and early 1960s; such as Cuban Fire!, Kenton's West Side Story and Adventures in Time.
- Johnny Richards also led his own bands. From 1956 - 1960 and 1964-1965, recording for Capitol, Coral, Roulette, and Bethlehem.
- He wrote the music for the popular song "Young at Heart" (1953), made famous by Frank Sinatra and others.
- Richards was an American jazz arranger and composer scoring numerous sound tracks for television and film.
- Johnny Richards was one of the more progressive-minded arrangers of the 1950s and '60s, turning out big, heavily orchestrated scores with a sometimes unabashed use of dissonance and a good feel for Latin rhythms. His music has been called "provocatively colorful," though in the case of his notoriously portentous "Prologue" for the ego-tripping Stan Kenton, simply the word "provocative" says it all.
- He worked in Los Angeles, California, from the late 1930s to 1952. In 1952, he moved to New York City.
- He also arranged a string album for Dizzy Gillespie in 1950, along with recording dates with Sarah Vaughan, Helen Merrill, and Sonny Stitt.
- He had been arranging for Stan Kenton since 1950 and continued to do so through the mid-1960s.
- Reviewers have deemed his style as being influenced by Duke Ellington and Pete Rugolo.
- Richards was born in Toluca, Mexico, to a Spanish father (Juan Cascales y Valero) and a Mexican mother.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content