Richard Hallebeek

Richard Hallebeek was born in Bilthoven (Netherlands), on August 2, 1969. He began playing guitar when he was 10 years old and received lessons from local teachers. At age 12, he formed several local bands and began performing in various rock and jazz groups. He was a complete guitar-nerd and quickly became a music guru. His early influences included The Beatles, Allan Holdsworth (weather report), Charlie Parker, Weather Report, Charlie Parker and Eddie Van Halen. At the age of 17, he was already the youngest guitarist to submit to Hilversum Conservatory. This conservatory is best known for its strong jazz history, which draws musicians from all over Europe. After six years of study in jazz composition, jazz improvisation and jazz history, Richard was a student of Wim Overgaauw. In 1989, Richard joined his first pop band called ‘What A Gig’ after he graduated. They win the Dutch ‘Yamaha Band Explosion Contest’ shortly after he joined the group. The Yamaha Band Explosion is a worldwide talent search for bands that write their own songs. The Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan hosted the grand finale. The jury included a.o. Bon Jovi, Europe singer Joey Tempest, and Casiopea guitar Issei noro were among the jury. Hallebeek’s band came in fourth place with “Question of Love” and joined Jon Bon Jovi onstage to play the Beatles’ ‘Get Back’. In 1993 Richard was selected from more than 350 entries to participate in the International Ibanez Guitar Award along with 8 other players to compete for the title of Best All Round Player’. The final took place in Ahoy Rotterdam. Alex Skolnick (Testament), and Lex Bolderdijk, a Dutch session ace, were the finalist. Hallebeek won the second prize for performing the Jazz Standard ’Road Song’ and the Rock Classic ‘After Midnight’ in an ‘all instrumental’ rendition and played an unaccompanied solo. He also took home the 2nd prize, a small 15W amp, and practiced more. Richard is a regular performer in various cover bands in the 1990’s. He also teaches and does studiowork for radio, movies and commercials (Dutch PTT Phonecompany. Hooghoudt. Region Police. Fokker. etc.). Television. He receives a scholarship from The Prins Bernhard Fonds in 1994 for study abroad. He leaves for Los Angeles to complete a year of study at The Musician’s Institute in order to learn arranging, composition, and improvisation. He is a guitarist with Scott Henderson, Dan Gilbert and TJ Helmerich. After a year, he graduated with an honors degree. Things start to take off at his new place at Orchid Avenue in Hollywood. Richard begins playing over a lot changes. He also starts a weekly performance at Musician’s Institute P100 concert room with several musician’s, most notably Jan Fabricky on drums, and J.Kleutgens, bass, with their band ‘Plus Tax’. Their goal is to write strong material while keeping true to their guitar roots, and allowing for improvisation. Their music ranges from rock, fusion and jazz to pop and heavy chords. They have a large following at their weekly performances at the school as well as throughout L.A. The group continues to perform throughout the year, and they record their first album at the M.I. The studio is now known as the ‘Tommy Tedesco studios, where many artists have recorded CDs since the first recordings by Richard and ‘Plus Tax. This was an idea of TJ Helmerich, an engineer and eight-finger tapping guitarist. Scott Henderson, M.I. and others often stop by to jam on those recording dates. Frank Gambale, Carl Verheyen, and Dan Gilbert are teachers. Richard receives a call from Mark Varney, guitar guru and well-known for his monthly “Spotlight Column” in Guitar Player and his Legato Records labels which featured many of the great players Richard had been into before moving to L.A. Mark heard rumors and wanted to hear some music. Richard signs a four-album contract with Mark Varney and Legato at the start of 1995. November 1996 saw the release of the first CD, ‘Generator’. The album features Scott Henderson (Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul), Frank Gambale (Keyboardist from Tribal Tech), Dan Gilbert, Scott Kinsey, Scott Kinsey, Dan Gilbert, Scott Kinsey, Frank Gambale, Dan Gilbert, Scott Kinsey, Scott Kinsey, Carl Verheyen (Probably, the most recorded guitarist in L.A. session history). After Richard’s return to Amsterdam, Holland in 1996, the album ‘True Colors’ is printed in small quantities and sold at local gigs. Rich starts playing with Rene Engel, a drummer best known for his album ‘Jazz Sick’ with Mike Stern and Danny Gottlieb. Richard tours Holland, Germany, and Finland in ’98 with a local band to support his ‘Generator’ cd. Rene Engel’s Spheres of Samarkand’ album is released in March 1998 with lots of Richard’s guitar playing. Also featured on the CD:Jeroen De Rijk (Mezzoforte), and Nippy Noya(percussion). The 2002 release of Rene Engel’s “Nostalgia” showcases Richard’s style. Richard begins writing reviews for the Dutch music magazine Music Maker. He also interviews guitarists and tests new gear. Richard then plays 6 nights per week in theatres and performs 145 performances of Handel’s classic ‘The Young Messiah’ throughout Holland, Germany, and Belgium. Rich is a highly sought-after sideman and believes it’s time to do things his way. Rich initiates the Richard Hallebeek project (later called RHP). He has help from Shawn Lane, who Richard learned from and Brett Garsed, who both contribute four solos. A few of Richard’s musical friends, Sebastiaan Cornelissen, a young drummer, and Lale Larson, a Swedish keyboard virtuoso, contribute songs to the RHP. They also heavily participate in the creative process, making the band more like a collective effort. It was released on the new U.K. guitar-oriented label, Liquid Note Records. RHP is the most-sold fusion album on guitar9.com, beating out other labels like Liquid Note Records. The album also receives rave reviews from all over the globe. RHP continues to be a popular album worldwide. Richard was the headliners of the “Meeting Of The Spirits” festival in Leeuwarden (Holland) at the end 2010. He was joined by Greg Howe, Carl Verheyen, and others. Richard is also featured on other releases by Liquid Note Records. The two collection albums Alchemists I, II, both feature Richard with various musicians. The last cd features Marco Minnemann as the drummer extraordinaire. Richard played an 8-month tour of 180 shows of HAIR in 2008, mostly five nights per week. He was joined by a 32-member cast from Germany, Belgium, and Holland. He records ‘Go For It’ with his favorite rhythm section, Sebastiaan cornelissen on drums, and Frans Vollink (Bas), between the HAIR story u0026 the hippies. The album features Randy Brecker, a trumpet legend. Richard is joining Lalle Larsson’s impressive Weaveworld trilogy, which includes ‘Weaveworld’ (2010), ‘Infinity Of Worlds’ (2010) and Nightscapes (2011). Richard recently performed live at the major European guitar festivals. He played in Boekarest’s Ziua Chitarelor festival with Mattias Eklundh, Guthrie Govan in 2009. He also played in the 2nd edition with Greg Howe and Brett Garsed. Andy Timmons, Michael Angelo, William Stravato, and Michael Angelo were all present. Richard was the headliners of the “Meeting Of The Spirits” festival in Leeuwarden (Holland) at the end 2010. He was also joined by Greg Howe, Carl Verheyen and others. Richard will be performing at the ESC (European Summer Campus), guitar festival in Sicily, with Allan Holdsworth as well as Kiko Loureiro. They teach together for four days and often end up sharing the stage more than once. Richard has been on two tours in the Netherlands and Germany with Guthrie Govan in the past few years. The hugely popular gigs proved that instrumental guitar music is still very alive. He is also a guest teacher at various Dutch conservatories, where he explains how he looks at scales, breaks them down, and then improvises through the changes. Richard establishes his own label, “Richie Rich Music”, in 2011 to allow him to release his own music. One-voice, Richard’s first release, was released on January 5, 2013. It featured many of Richard’s past guitarists: Greg Howe (Guthrie Govan), Andy Timmons (Alex Machacek), Kiko Loureiro (Jose de Castro), Randy Brecker, and Eric Gale. This fusion-fest also features Lalle Larsson (keys), Sebastiaan Cornwallelissen (dr), and Frans Vollink. Richie Rich Music’s next releases were the reissue of 1995’s ‘Generator’, which features Scott Henderson, Carl Verheyen and Scott Kinsey. This original release was released by Mark Varney’s Legato label. May 2014 saw the release of the remastered 2004 album ‘RHP’. It also included a bonus track. DweezilZappa asked Richard to perform on the same stage as him at The Melkweg in Amsterdam. They also jammed on “Zomby Woof” together. Interviews and reviews about Richard have appeared in the Guitarist’, the Dutch Music Maker’, American ‘Guitar World’ and ’Jazz Times’ as well as the Japanese u0026 Italian ‘Young Guitar’. Richard Hallebeek is an endorser for Suhr Guitars USA and HOOK amps, speaker cabinets, TC Electronics, Fractal AudioSystems XII. Richard is currently working on a trio album featuring bass, drums, and guitars. He has also released his first instructional dvd entitled ‘Scale Creativity.’

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