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Rick Bogart, (10 February 1951 – ) is a jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and piano, but he eventually focused solely on clarinet and later added vocals. He also composed throughout his career for clarinet.

Rick Bogart worked in New Orleans during the heyday of the French Quarter during the mid '70's. Within the first five blocks of Bourbon Street there were fifteen full-time Jazz bands. During this time he played in the bands of Snookum Russell and Wallace Davenport at the Paddock Lounge, and with June Gardner, Nick Gagliardi, Milton Ziedrich and Thomas Jefferson at the Famous Door.

Rick later moved to New York City to refine and broaden his style. He played a long run in Atlantic City, Cleveland, New York City, Miami, and touring the world headlining on cruise ships. He has written songs for major movies and is the subject of a documentary "When the Clarinet Swings".

He is most closely aligned with his New Orleans and Swing-style background. However, he has broadened his style over the course of his career by living and working in New York, and working with many musicians of varying style. In the words of Danny Stiles of WNYC Radio, " "One of the great clarinetists of our era."

Early life
Rick Bogart was born to Carlos Hernàndez (from Madrid, Spain) and his mother Audrey Bogart McBride. Rick Bogart's father changed his last name to Hardeman upon immigration to the United States. Rick Bogart was born Charles Richard Hernàndez Hardeman, later changed his name to Rick Bogart (which was his mother's maiden name). His mother was herself an artist, clarinetist, and singer. Rick began piano studies at the age of 8, and clarinet at age 11. His clarinet studies were first with a retired Big Band musician “Mr. Reader.” He had the distinct honor of meeting and having a private session with Jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain, where Mr. Fountain let him play his clarinet and gave Rick Bogart advice about playing the clarinet. He attended Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music‘s High School Preparatory School, studying classically piano and clarinet. He went on to graduate from North Texas State University with his Bachelor’s of Music, with a concentration in piano, clarinet (with Leon Russianoff, Kalmen Opperman, Gervase dePeyer), and voice (with Eugene Conley of the Metropolitan Opera).

Career
Directly out of school, Rick Bogart became the youngest union musician to lead a band at the Famous Door in New Orleans. He would lead a band called "The Basin Street Five" for a year and continued to perform at the Famous Door from 1976-1980. With Thomas Jefferson (musician), Rick Bogart played during the day-time slot at the Famous Door from noon to five, six days a week, for 14 months. Jefferson’s music greatly influenced Rick, especially his singing, and Rick developed an appreciation for musicians who could sing and play an instrument. He also played alongside Snookum Russell, Wallace Davenport, June Gardner, Nick Gagliardi, Milton Ziedrich, and occasionally Al Hirt.

In 1975, he began voice study with Louis Panzeri, who had a voice studio on Bourbon street. He was a noted voice teacher and singer in New Orleans.

He decided to move to New York in December 1980.

At the same time, he was offered a long term contract to play at the Theatrical Grill in Cleveland, Ohio,so he began commuting for months at a time to Cleveland. It was there that he was discovered by Public Relations ExecutiveRon Watt who scheduled a number of television spots on the NBC affiliate station.

He auditioned for Blake Cumbers, entertainment director at Atlantic City’s Harrah’s Casino in 1983 and was hired to headline on the spot. He would play there 18-24 weeks a year from 1983-1994.

After the Entertainment Industry changed in Atlantic City, Rick began teaching English at Park West High School in Hell's Kitchen from 1997-99. At the time Hell's Kitchen was a notoriously dangerous neighborhood and the school was restructuring. While teaching, Rick continued to play locally in NYC, but held his steady job for two years as a teacher. This momentary side-step from his music career was quickly recovered when he began attracting attention from The agency of Bramson Entertainment. Bramson Entertainment connected him with several major cruise ships and landed him a headliner position on Holland America, Renaissance, Crystal Harmony, Crystal Symphony, and the Asuka. He went on to perform as a headliner on cruise ships from 1999-2011, performing 2-one hour shows a week in over 72 countries.

He was approached by manager Gerrard W. Purcell known as "Jerry Purcell", who decided to take on Bogart. Jerry Purcell discovered such well-known artists as Al Hirt, Maya Angelo, Eddy Arnold, and Jay Leno. Jerry Purcell helped Bogart achieve his goal of composing songs, culminating in Bogart’s recording of Jazz Ballet for Solo Clarinet written by Rick Bogart and produced by Arabesque Records. Bogart has a CD on the New Orleans Record Company entitled Rick Bogart. He maintains a long-standing contract with Arabesque Records in New York since 2008.

Rick Bogart also recorded music for films including the 1999 made for HBO TV movie Earthly Possessions and Love in the Time of Money.

Rick Bogart was the feature of a documentary produced by Jim Markovic entitled “When the clarinet swings," which is played in television markets worldwide. He was also featured in the documentary entitled "Sandy Jordan's World of Jazz and Cabaret". Bogart was featured in the 2013 documentary "Mr. Jazz: Louis Armstrong" by Italian filmmaker Michele Cinque, produced by MRF5 in collaboration with Louis Armstrong House Archive in New York.  Rick Bogart began collaborating with the Amy Winehouse Foundation and Amy Winehouse’s father Mitch Winehouse. Mitch Winehouse makes regular appearances with the Rick Bogart Trio in New York.

Rick performed for the University of Donetsk, in the Ukraine and the Kiev Opera House sponsored by the AMS Corporation. Bogart was the featured performer of a major charity event in December 2010 for Arts and Tourism at the Plaza Hotel. The event was sponsored by NYC & Company and George Fertitta and co-chairman Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg honoring Terry Lundgren, Diane von Furstenberg, and Anna Wintour. Additionally he has performed at a concert at the United Nations, New York, with a special question & answer session with the U.N. Society Jazz Band.

He regularly performs with the Rick Bogart Trio in New York.

Solo

 * 2005: “Rick Bogart” (Jazzology Records)
 * 2007: “Rick Bogart” (Arabesque Records)
 * 2008: “Rick Bogart: New York Rhythm”(Arabesque Records)
 * 2011: “Rick Bogart: Jazz Ballet for Clarinet” (Arabesque Records)