Emil Richards

A well-respected studio musician long based in Los Angeles, Emil Richards has been on a countless number of sessions, contributing his vibes mostly anonymously to recordings in all genres of music. He started playing xylophone when he was six and, while still in tenth grade, Richards played with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. After graduating from the Hartt School of Music and Hilliard College (1949-52), he played in an Army band in Japan (working with Toshiko Akiyoshi). Richards later worked with Charles Mingus, Willie Ruff, Ed Shaughnessy, Ed Thigpen, George Shearing's Qui...