About Us

Razzmatazz Productions, Inc.

Razzmatazz Productions Inc. is an independent record production and theatrical entertainment company founded in 1994. Its mission has been to record the best of American popular music written over the past century, and to develop and promote live performances of this music in theaters and in concert halls. Our featured artist is Larry Kass, who is equally at home at the keyboard of the Steinway Grand as he is at the console of the Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ. All of the albums are recorded digitally and in stereo, and provide a unique collection of great American popular music spanning the Twentieth Century. In addition to popular music, Razzmatazz plans additional albums of Christmas choral music and classical piano performances in the near future. The company also records albums containing songs written by Larry Kass for individual performers, in a cabaret format. All of The Mighty Wurlitzer Radio Hour live broadcasts are recorded as well, and each show features 25-30 songs performed by a large professional cast, as well as classical artists and dramatic performers in a recreation of musical variety shows of the Golden Age of Radio during the Thirties and Forties.

Larry Kass

Born in Toledo, OH, Larry Kass displayed musical ability at a young age. Starting with piano at 4 and organ at 8, he was taught at first by his mother, a concert pianist. Trained as a classical pianist, Larry started to play popular music at age 10. He composed and directed prize winning musicals as a college student at the University of Michigan, and has recorded over 50 albums comprising nearly 1000 different songs. In Cleveland, every Tuesday for 7 years he was featured on Piano Playhouse heard on AM 850 WRMR and hosted by Carl Reese. He is also the pianist on WMKV 91.3 FM in Cincinnati, Ohio. Every Wednesday at 11 PM he plays the great American standards on "Music for Midnight" heard in the greater Cincinnati area and around the world on wmkvfm.org. He was the student of the late theater organ legend, George Wright. Starting in 1997, he recorded 160 songs on 7 separate albums for QRS Music Technologies of Buffalo, NY. These albums can be played on pianos equipped with the Pianomation system.

In 2000, Larry became founder and curator of the world famous John Milton Williams Museum of Radio Broadcasting History, a remarkable exhibit of rare microphones and one of a kind artifacts from Radio Yesteryear. Starting in 1993, he was featured pianist and organist on The Mighty Wurlitzer Radio Hour along with Wayne Mack and Robert Conrad, and heard regularly on Cleveland's award winning fine arts radio station WCLV 104.9 FM. In 2001, he became musical director, script writer, and producer of this nationally renowned show, featuring 15 performers including vocalists, instrumentalists, and announcers. The show is broadcast four times each year on Cleveland's WCLV 104.9 FM and coast to coast and around the world on wclv.com. Each program is unique, and includes original vocal arrangements and orchestrations. Larry also writes popular songs and is a proud member of ASCAP. In the past 3 years, he has written music and lyrics for nearly 2000 songs of different kinds. They are in the style of the Thirties, Forties and Fifties, and include ballads, show tunes, duets, love songs, patriotic songs, ragtime, swing, and seasonal songs.

	Ballads
	Blues
	Christmas songs
	Broadway songs
	Songs for every season

Performers

All the singers on the albums are performing professionals. They have performed extensively in stage productions and many have recorded over the years. Some are experienced in grand opera and operetta, and all have performed in musical theater and cabaret productions locally and throughout the country. Many have directed stage productions and some have appeared on the New York stage and throughout the country and abroad.

Musical Instruments

Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ

On October 9,1928, the magnificent Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ entertained the glittering opening night audience at the opulent Plaza Theater in Kansas City, MO. First-nighters were treated to a performance of Street Angel, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. The movie was a talkie, and utilized the Fox Movietone sound on film system. Designated as Opus 1949, the Wurlitzer was played during intermissions and before the movie. Despite a long period of silence during the Great Depression, the organ was maintained meticulously. Finally, after a sojourn in the Russell Stover Auditorium at the University of Kansas City, it was purchased and restored over 12 years by the premier organ expert Ronald F. Wehmeier of Cincinnati, OH, and now has 3 manuals, 19 ranks, 1,315 pipes and a rare 1927 Wurlitzer vibraphone. Also, the 1927 Steinway Duo-Art can be played on each manual and the pedal keyboard.

Steinway Duo-Art Reproducing Grand Piano

The piano used for all piano recordings is a 1927 Steinway Model XR Duo-Art Reproducing Grand Piano. The instrument was manufactured by Steinway and Sons, and shipped in August 1927 to the Aeolian Corporation in New York for insertion of the Duo-Art mechanism, and for creation of the elaborate art case made of American walnut. Carved into the piano bench and music rack is the hunting horn and quill logo of Aeolian. The Steinway was shipped to the Woodward Avenue store of Grinnell Brothers in Detroit, where it was purchased in December 1927 by K.T. Keller, former CEO of Chrysler Motors, as a Christmas gift for his wife, Adelaide. Years later, it was completely and meticulously restored by Tony Geers of the Geers Piano Company and Ronald F. Wehmeier, both of Cincinnati, Ohio.

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