Richard Pite

Richard Pite is a British professional musician (drums, double bass, bass ukulele, tuba and sousaphone) and jazz historian specialising in the jazz of the early 20th Century. He is founder of two music companies - PartyJazz and The Jazz Repertory Company and is also the Director of Music for Boisdale which presents jazz and other live music on a nightly basis at its four London venues. For many years he specialised in 1920s music and the drum techniques and visual tricks of the era's jazz drummers and over the last 12 years has worked together with musical partner Pete Long, to preserve jazz history through live performance. Together they have recreated historic moments from jazz in association with The National Jazz Archive. For the 100th Anniversary of Gene Krupa's birth in 2009, Pite staged the only UK concert celebrating the life and work of the artist who was one of the most important and flamboyant drummers in jazz history.

A graduate of York University, Pite began his professional career in California in 1980 where he worked as a freelance drummer. In 1981 he returned to London and freelanced in jazz, rock and country music. He joined the Carey Duncan Band in the summer of 1981 and spent two years touring Europe and the US with this Country Rock combo. He was concurrently working with a 1920s jazz band called The Rio Trio which, in 1982, became the resident band on BBC Radio 4's weekly show, And So To Ned, hosted by Ned Sherrin. In 1983 he joined The Ross Mitchell Band – the last band to be resident at the London dance venue, the Hammersmith Palais. The band played for international ballroom dancing championships and released several albums of "strict tempo" music. In 1986 he took over the management of The Rio Trio, a position he held for 10 years. After two tours of the US in 1995 and 1996 the band split up.

Pite is the founder, producer and musical director of The Jazz Repertory Company – the only organisation in the UK dedicated solely to producing concerts highlighting the significant musicians, styles and events in jazz history. Diligently researched and using specialist musicians, the productions aim to recreate jazz history as authentically as possible either in overviews such as the popular 100 Years of Jazz in 99 minutes or specific events such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington appearing for the first time in London in 1932 and 1933 or Benny Goodman’s Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert.

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