Richard Applegate
Jazz Pianist - A Biography

Richard Applegate (aka Dick Blake) was born on December 14, 1937, in Albany, Oregon.  The son of a musical family, he started piano lessons at age 6 and was playing just about anything and everything by ear by age 8.."I was spending more time improvising than with my lessons!"  He received his schooling primarily in Albany, with exception of a few years spent in Portland.  Those Portland years, however, offered significant opportunity for continuing musical growth, particularly at Grant High School where music and all the arts flourished in the curriculum at very high level. 

Applegate returned to Albany to complete high school, with a great deal of time spent at his pre-avocation -- his first professional job playing at The Saddle Club at age 15.  Also, during 1953-54 he worked with a dance/entertainment group, The Dominoes, playing bass, which evolved into a trio featuring Richard on banjo, Mary Arnett (see Home Page and the Jazz Parlour) on piano, and Duaine Park on guitar.  The trio played school assemblies, banquets, civic group entertainments, etc.  "I can remember where we would play seven nights in a row," said Applegate.  But it was the 1954 Oregon State Fair that brought them fame.

The trio beat out 12 other groups, after many preliminary competitions, at an Albany area contest sponsored by KWIL radio station, drawing an audience of more than 800.  From there the trio performed at the State Fair, and were judged the best of all amateur acts, winning a trip to New York City and an appearance on the television show, The Ted Mack Amateur Hour.  It was a VERY exciting
trip for a 16-year old.  "I can still remember performing.  We played  The World's Waiting for the Sunrise and I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover".  The whole thing lasted four or five minutes, but afterward everyone knew their names.  "The Governor (Patterson) was invited to a banquet in Albany and replied saying  he would come "if that group plays'." recollected Applegate.

Graduation from Albany Union High School broke up the group, and Applegate joined the Army, was assigned to France where he played in the Army band, spending as many "free" hours as possible listening to jazz and blues musicians performing in Europe, primarily in Paris.  At this point, Richard might as well have pitched (pun intended!) his talents in the baseball world, having spent part of his tour of duty as a pitcher for Army baseball teams, assisting winning a team championship and receiving personal awards and commendations for his abilities.  "I had an 11-0 record that year (1958) and a scout for Philadelphia saw me pitch".  He turned down the scout's invitation for a try out -- "I was more interested in music." Once asked if he regretted the decision to go for music, Applegate said, (a bit wistfully) "Sometimes.Was I over the hill then? I don't really know."

Richard Applegate has been a musician for some 50 of his 66 years, beginning after the Army playing backup to such artists as Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Fifth Dimension, Gene Austin, Chubby Checkers and Gene Autry.  He has continued making music in literally hundreds of venues in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Palm Springs, all over the Pacific Northwest and the Willamette Valley.  From the 70's to the mid-90's he concentrated primarily in Portland as well   as Salem and Eugene, working virtually all the jazz venues with all the local jazz veterans, venturing from time to time for mini-tours and engagements with the Dorsey band, James Moody, Art Pepper and Blue Mitchell, just to name a few.  But always returning to his home turf to work with Portland stalwarts such as drummer Mel Brown, vocalists Nola Porter, Nancy King, Marianne Mayfield, and a long stint with bassist Leroy Vinnegar when he adopted Portland as HIS home base in the 80's.            

This barely scratches the surface of all the casuals, sessions, long-and-short-term gigs.  You name it -- he's done it!  Not only has he "played" the scenes, many also acknowledge their debt to Applegate for being the creative force that gave birth to and sustained both new and old jazz havens.  His talents begin with his music, but extend to his ability, and desire, to build and foster, scenes in which jazz music can flourish.

Although the major emphasis of Richard's playing has been in the jazz arena, he also enjoys (and excels at!) country music ( as evidenced by some of the above cited experiences) -- "I started learning country music from my Grandpa who was from Tennessee.  We listened to the Grand Ole Opry when I was a little kid.  He'd identify the different instruments, which eventually led me to experiment with many myself.  I still love country and western swing. I can play it -- it's part of my roots, I guess.  And I see plenty of connection between it and jazz. All music should come from that same place of "honesty."

But for Applegate, jazz is his passion.  He counts among his influences Jimmy Rowles, Bill Evans, Horace Silver -- of course, Art Tatum -- trumpeter Blue Mitchell, saxophonist Don Lamphere -- and the list goes on. Richard's relationship with Lamphere was pivotal. Don's alliance with Charlie Parker offered insights to Applegate that "turned me around."  Another extremely important person in Richard's musical life was tenor saxophonist Brailey Brown of Portland.  In his association with Brown "it hit me that there was something deeper in music.  I worked at getting the technical as well as artistic sides together."  As Leroy Vinnegar once said of Applegate, "he not only  plays music, he makes it."  Or as John Wendeborn of THE OREGONIAN put it, "his piano is a fiery extension of his heart and soul."

Another of Applegate's passions is his home State of Oregon.  More specifically his home town, Albany.  Many times through the years he tried to "come home again" but work, finances, all the worldly worries common to an artist and admirer alike, would pull him back to Portland.  Finally, in 1994, he made the move back to Albany for good!  Come "Hell or High Water!"  Still gigging in Portland some, several years in Newport, Oregon on the weekends, in Corvallis at a Sunday session, casuals, etc., he has managed to "have his cake and ..well you know". 

At present, Richard and his partner Mary Arnett (yes, that one from the 1954 story!) reside in a bucolic setting a little way from "the hustle and bustle!?" of Albany, and have a recording and performance studio close at hand.  Utilizing all those years of experience, the pathos, the enlightenment, the yin and yang of it all, Applegate intends to continue his work and discovery, and above all, his music!   To quote bassist David Friessen,... "he's a searcher who relentlessly, through the years, carved out a place for himself where the changing world has no effect.  He clings to values, not fads."

"In today's world, people are searching for meaning in their work and their life. For authenticity, for something real that they can feel is true and enduring. Jazz music, with it's roots in blues and swing, is an expression of the authentic American experience. The standard jazz songs are making a resurgence now, not as a wave of nostalgia, but rather because they speak directly to us...through the heart. The songs cannot speak to us unless the artists who bring the songs to life are playing from places deep inside themselves." So said vocalist Dory Hylton, Portland, of (Richard Applegate) several years ago. Nothing has changed and yet everything does. The standards...and Richard Applegate...are constant. But, ah!, the improvisations...