Raphael Rudd, a Nutley native, with multiple albums to his credit, was a classically
trained international pianist and harpist whose talent led him to collaborate and
eam the respect of musicians around the world.
A student of Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music, Rudd first gained fame for
his work with rnusic virtuoso Pete Townshend of the Who. Working with Townshend, at
age 21, Rudd arranged music for and conducted the London Symphony Orchestra for theWho’s album “Quadrophenia.” He later continued his work on Townshend’s solo composition “Rough Boys,” demos for the Townshend’s album “Empty Glass,” and Rudd’s double solo album, “The Awakening.” Reflecting on his initial collaboration with Rudd,which was published in the liner notes of “The Oceanic Concerts,” another successful collaboration of the two musicians, Townshend went on to say, “I regarded myself as Raphael’s musical mentor during that pedod. Today, we lnspire each other on a more equal footing.I am greatly influenced by Raphael’s piano style – especially his modality.”
Besides his work with Townshend, Rudd worked with Annie Haslam in her group Renaissance as well as hel solo projects in the late 1980s to the early 1990s. In a 2002 “Star Ledger” interview, Haslarn went on to say, “There was nobody like Raphael. He was a unique person in every form and every way.”
Locally, Rudd was an assistant professor of Music at Rutgers University, as well a fan
favorite pianist and harpist throughout New Jersey, most notably at the Oakside-Bloomfield Cultural Center.
In the late 1990s Rudd moved to California to work on music for film and television
projects and continued his successful career on the west coast. In 2002, Rudd suffered a life-ending injury n a car accident; he died in a coma at the age of 45.
In a 1996 “Star Ledger” interview, Rudd described his rnusic as, “I would like to be
considered someone who is doing something with some guts to it. I like form, I like
structure, and I like to have a beginning, a middle and an end to a piece. I get that from
my classical roots.”