Richard Aquilone spent over 20 years performing in upstate New York around the Capital region playing drums with various jazz and funk bands.<br />Hi primary group, “The Richard Aquilone Band” play jazz and funk standards and originals at bars and clubs in upstate New York. His band are made up of Richard Aquilone on drums, Andy Shears on Guitar, Brad Playfair on Bass, Tony Hampton on Piano, Rick Conti on Sax, and The Bullet Brothers (Mike and Sandy Haroldson) on Trumpet and Trombone.<br />In 1995, while in college, The Richard Aquilone Band recorded their debut album for Larchmont Recordings, entitled, “Take a Stab at THIS”. “Stab”, as it is frequently nicknamed had 12 tracks, and the title track was released a single to radio on a national basis. The single garnered airplay on jazz radio and can still be heard on rotation on hundreds of stations. The album, “Stab” wound up going gold with 500,000 units sold. The follow up single, “Carissa Moore”, a love song bashing Richard Aquilone’s ex girlfriend failed to gain the same commercial success or airplay of the first single.<br />In 1998, “The Richard Aquilone Band” cut and released their second full length album without the assistance of a record label. The album was called “Crazy Talk” because their manager that their idea to release an album without a label was, well, crazy talk. The lead single, “Plasma Hearts” was a hit on Jazz radio and managed to sell 250,000 singles. “Crazy Talk” sold about 100,000 copies, which is terrific for an independent released album.