Araldi and Pappas - Together again, again!
Endearing Music - Enduring Friendship!
When they were in high school, Rich Araldi and Jim Pappas spent every moment they could find playing music. From the time they’d skip their classes to go “jam” in the band room, to heading home after school to spend hours honing their craft. When they weren’t playing music, they were listening to music, or talking about music!
The writing was on the wall to anyone that cared to notice that these boys were destined to be musicians.
On the back of Jim’s graduation picture to Rich it’s written:
“To one of the jazz masters of today...we’ll both make it together in jazz someday”.
Alas, that never happened, divergent paths have led them down different roads. But each has enjoyed a career in music, fulfilling their dream and bringing to fruition what they were working on all those years ago.
Both these musicians began playing professionally in their early teens, each playing in clubs long before they were of age to, and have seen their careers grow to where they have had the pleasure of performing for dignitaries up to the President of the United States, have performed on television, and have heard their music on the radio!
Demetrios Pappas (Jim's professional name, but it's Jim to his oldest friends) has enjoyed great success from being music director at one of the the most prestigious venues in Atlantic City (where the singers and musicians he's worked with is a veritable “who’s who”), to working with the legendary “Funk Brothers” of Motown fame on their movie (the award winning “Standing in the Shadows of Motown”) and tours. Demetrios has also performed with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Aretha Franklin, Nell Carter, among many others. He has performed in the broadway shows including Mamma Mia and at iconic venues including The White House, The Tonight Show, Carnegie Hall, and The Lincoln Center, among others. This has led to his current position as music director for the legendary Smokey Robinson!
Rich Araldi’s accomplishments, while seemingly more modest, have been exactly the right fit. After a stint as a touring musician in the US and tours in Jamaica and Mexico, Rich settled in to a life of a local musician raising a family and performing in the New England area in a myriad of venues on vibraphone, piano, drums, and percussion. In addition to his performance schedule Rich has enjoyed his work arranging and recording and serving as a music director in multiple settings.
In September of 2018, after a hiatus of over forty years, Jim and Rich were playing together once again, "for the first time!" Back in school Rich was exclusively a drummer, this time around he added vibraphone to Jim’s piano. For a couple years the boys were enjoying performing together for a string of concerts. After the Covid pandemic Jim moved to Las Vegas due to his performance schedule, but he's recently moved back to New England, the place he calls home, and he and Rich have picked up where they last left off. The duo will be performing their favorite songs from over the years, songs that have special meaning to them in the styles of popular contemporary, jazz, and other categories. Sure to be some of your favorites too!
Below are a few performance videos!