Richie Pratt

Richie Pratt (born Richard Dean Tyree; March 11, 1943 – February 12, 2015) was an American jazz drummer. He embarked upon a career as a professional musician on the New York scene in the early 1970s, it was as much due to an unanticipated sporting injury as anything else. Pratt was born into a musical family (his mother was a church pianist and a brother is saxophonist Chris Burnett) and grew up in the Kansas City metro city of Olathe, Kansas. He first studied music via the piano, as well as attended various music camps as a youth prior to attending college as a music major at the University of Kansas.

Early life and football career

Pratt was born at the University of Kansas Medical Center to Wayne Tyree and Violet Lorraine Jackson Tyree, then later adopted by his great-aunt and great-uncle, John and Willa Pratt, in the Kansas City area. Eventually growing into a rather large and powerful man, he attended the University of Kansas under a full four-year scholarship to play varsity football, majoring in music education. While enrolled in school and living in Lawrence, Kansas he would not only block for Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers as an All-Time KU Football Letterman, but Pratt also continued his musical development. He performed in orchestra, jazz and wind ensembles, along with performing in a student USO show that first took him to Hawaii as a performer. He was eventually drafted to play professional football by the NFL’s New York Giants.

Music career

Richie Pratt’s prolific tenure as a first-call percussionist on the highly competitive New York City music scene began after he suffered a career-ending injury during his second season with the Giants.