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 Preacher's
kid
Julia Rich is a preacher's daughter from Nashville, Tennessee,
who loves to sing. When Julia was three years old her mother,
teacher June Blankenship, told Margaret Wright of the Middle
Tennessee State University music department, "I'll be sending
you a singer." Rich grew up in church choirs and singing
at revivals held by her father, Rev. H. Fred Blankenship. Her
fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Helen Philpot of Shelbyville, TN,
taught her to sing "Faraway Places." A few years later,
Rich received a Bachelor of Music degree from MTSU where she
was classified as a lyric coloratura; she learned a great deal
from Margaret and Neil Wright.
Julia picked up harmony singing from the Methodist hymnal and
the Beatles. A fondness for Judy Garland led her to Tony Bennett
and how it felt to snap on 2 and 4. (If you're snapping on 1
and 3, you're at the wrong gig.) While house sitting for a college
professor, she discovered a Cleo Laine record and ran to the
piano to see what those notes were. After a stint as a singing
waitress at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo complex, Julia performed
in a theatre production of "Side By Side By Sondheim"
and was offered a nightclub job, which brought her together
with pianist Paul Lohorn and bassist Joey Smith. Smith became
a jazz mentor and familiarized Rich with the music of Sarah
Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Ethel Ennis, Billie Holiday, June Christy
and the only diamond in the sea: Ella Fitzgerald. Voice lessons
were helpful, but the best instruction turned out to be Ella
in the headphones.
Join the Miller Band; see the world.
In 1985, Julia became the featured female vocalist (girl singer)
with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Joey Smith, who was playing
bass in the band at the time, recommended her. Stanley Turrentine
organist Butch Cornell played for Julia's audition tape, which
they made in Chattanooga in the classroom where she taught junior
high school music. Rich's first show with the GMO was at the
Opryland Hotel in Nashville.
Touring with the Glenn Miller Orchestra has taken Julia to every
state in the union and throughout Canada. The band has played
in several countries in Central and South America and also in
Spain, Guam, and Iceland. Fourteen 6-week tours of the Japanese
Islands have made Rich a fan of the food, the people, the culture,
and the concert halls of Japan. Other memorable venues include
the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, the World's Fair in Seville,
many beautiful old theatres and opera houses in the USA, and
plenty of high school auditoriums full of friendly people who
like good music. Watching couples that have danced together
for 50 years and listening to them talk about what the music
has meant in their lives continue to inspire Julia.
Julia Rich has sung Chattanooga Choo-Choo and Kalamazoo in Chattanooga
and Kalamazoo and from Reykjavik to Honolulu to San Salvador
to Saskatoon. She has visited the faraway places with the strange
sounding names. Rich even sings "Faraway Places" with
the Glenn Miller Orchestra and was able to dedicate the song
one night to a special friend in the concert audience: her fourth
grade teacher, Mrs. Philpot.
Plays well with others
Girl singer Julia Rich has worked with and learned from many
fine musicians on the road including GMO leaders Larry O'Brien
and Dick Gerhart, singers Jeannie Dennis, Joe Francis, Bryan
Anthony, and Nick Hilscher, players Mike Duva, Marc Vinci, Andy
Hagan, Bill Washer, and Richy Barz. The counsel and encouragement
of Dr. Paul Tanner of the original Glenn Miller Orchestra and
his wife Jan have been invaluable. Glenn Miller's sister, the
late Irene Wolfe, was a cherished friend and a source of inspiration.
June Alyson, who played Helen Miller in "The Glenn Miller
Story," is a new friend and a source of delight.
During Rich's tenure with the GMO, the band has performed with
such notables as The Mills Brothers, Helen O'Connell, Rosemary
Clooney, Mel Torme, Lynn Roberts, Kay Starr, Connie Haines,
Teresa Brewer, Jerry Vale, The Four Aces, Kathie Lee Gifford,
Joan Shepherd, and former GMO leader Buddy de Franco. The Glenn
Miller Orchestra has shared the stage with The Tommy Dorsey
Orchestra, The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, the Guy Lombardo Orchestra,
and the Count Basie Orchestra. A treat for Julia was sharing
a dressing room with Basie singer Carmen Bradford at the Hollywood
Bowl, where Ella Fitzgerald had appeared only a few days prior.
On the business end, Rich served as road manager for the Glenn
Miller Orchestra from 1995-2000 and as assistant road manager
to saxophonist Mike Duva from 1987-1992. It was as GMO road
manager that she acquired the nickname "that woman."
Solo act
Julia Rich has sung solo many nights in Nashville at Mere Bulles
or The Merchants or Clayton-Blackmon and many nights in Chattanooga
at the Fairyland Club or Union Square. She has entertained the
Literacy Volunteers of America (see if they still play her CD
when you're on hold), at Maximillian's in San Francisco, aboard
the Crystal Harmony and the Westerdaam, impromptu at the Waldorf-Astoria
in New York City (with Helen O'Connell), the Village Vanguard
in Sendai, the St. James Club in Osaka, and at night spots in
Chicago, Sao Paulo, and Tokyo.
 Rich
likes singing with a small group and sometimes just a piano
or just a guitar or just an upright bass. She has been fortunate
to make music with the late John Propst, Eddie Edwards, Jeffrey
Steinberg, Johnny Veith, Pat Bergeson, Lennie Foy, Dennis Solee,
Lori Mechem, Roger Spencer, Charles Dungey, Rex Peer, Butch
Cornell, and Takehisa Tanaka. One lovely November, Rickey Woodard
played his saxophone with her and a trio in downtown Nashville
every weekend for a month. How do you spell "cloud nine"?
The musicians on Julia's albums are established jazz players
with top credentials. She has played with them live on a number
of occasions: always fun, always creative, and always educational.
See "Getting it on wax" for more about these fine
artists.
. . . 'Cause I wrote this song about you
Julia Rich wrote her first song in a piano practice room as
a college senior. (No one remembers the year.) It was about
somebody dating someone else's boyfriend and several songs followed
expressing young love and angst. As a public school music teacher,
Rich (a.k.a. Mrs. Highsmith) wrote melodies and lyrics for her
performing glee club for Valentines Day, Halloween, Christmas
("Santa Claus is a Big Bad Daddy"), and end of school
("Boogie into Summer"). "With All My Heart"
on "The Way You Make Me Feel" album is the story of
her parents' meeting and was written to celebrate their fiftieth
wedding anniversary. Telling a story with a song, turning feelings
into something singable: nice work if Julia can get it.
A high spot in Rich's songwriting experience is Benita Hill.
Friends since 1992, they became collaborators over dinner one
night in Nashville when Rich answered a Hill question with,
"Basically, it just boils down to two afternoons in December."
Benita countered, "Are all that I want to remember."
And they were off!! (Hear the result on "I'll Take Romance.")
On another evening, Benita sipped her wine and asked, "How
was the cruise?" to which Julia replied, "Well, it
was raining in Rio." (Find it on "The Way You Make
Me Feel.") Benita has helped Julia expand her creative
compass by often insisting that Rich come up with a better line
than the one that was obviously already perfect.
Getting it on wax
Julia Rich has recorded four albums for Cardinal Records: "I'll
Take Romance," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "If
I Spoke French," and "juliarichmusic . . . a little
taste." Tony Migliore co-produced all four albums with
Rich and brought experience, inventiveness, skill, and enthusiasm
to each project. Rich credits Migliore with shining the best
light on her original compositions via his fresh arrangements.
The players:
Tony Migliore - piano / arrangements / co-producer
Gary Weaver - piano / arrangements
Jim Ferguson - bass
Bob Mater - drums and percussion
George Tidwell - trumpet and flugelhorn
Rickey Woodard - tenor saxophone (special guest star)
Larry O'Brien (Glenn Miller Orchestra Leader) - trombone - "If
I Spoke French"
Joey Smith (former GMO bassist) - guitar / arrangements - "If
I Spoke French"
Pete Bordonali - guitar - "juliarichmusic . . . a little
taste"
Ron Gannaway - percussion - "I'll Take Romance"
Chuck Haines - engineer
Chris Milfred - mastering
Matt Mattingly - engineer, mastering - "I'll Take Romance"
All albums recorded at Chelsea Studio - Nashville
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