Anyone know a Los Angeles musician named Riz??

Cafe Society
1

I have this absolutely AMAZING 1986 album (as in “LP”) called “Self-Portrait” by Riz. This man is the American Kate Bush, I tell you. Or at least, he WAS well on his way. The album is haunting, melodic, moody and very very accomplished for, as far as I know, a debut album. As far as I know too, it’s his only album. I’d love to be wrong about that. The one person he most reminds me of now is Jeff Buckley, if Jeff had made a couple of small albums prior to “Grace.”

Am I the ONLY person in the universe who has this album and knows of this person? Where is he? Why did such a brilliant raw talent disappear off the face of the earth?

2

There are no Google hits on this person or the album - What are some of the song names - Who is the music publisher?

3

The closest thing I could think of would be the late Rozz Williams of Christian Death, who also had a solo career. He wasn’t at all Jeff Buckley like, although, I could see how some of his stuff could be compared to some of Kate Bushs stuff. IMHO he was more of an evil Bowie.

Jon

4

There’s a press release thingy inside that says his name is “Rodolpho Ivan Zahler” but I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t get any web hits from that name either.

The song titles on the album are:

Side One

  1. Listen

  2. The Eyes of Innocence

  3. Break Inside Me

  4. Self Portrait

  5. The Empty Sky Impression (it’s the only one I have mp3’d and it’s from a dubbed cassette, not LP)
    Side Two (wow, remember them?)

  6. In The Flesh

  7. Slow

  8. They Go Away

  9. The Deepest Sleep

  10. The Second Glance

  11. Walk Home Alone

There’s a picture of him on the front and another on the back.

On the front cover it says “Riz Self Portrait”

On the back cover (jsut out of range of the scan) it says “Written, arranged, produced and performed by Riz”
1986 Song Art Productions, Inc.
1986 Riz Art Publishing

The inside sleeve has the lyrics, and this information:

Riz - Vocals, electric & acoustic guitar, Emu II, ppg 2.3, TX-816, DX 7, Taurus bass pedals, Korg poly synth, Juno 106, Yamaha concert grand, Bass (track 10), various sound effects

Lenny Zahler - Fretted & Fretless bass

Mark Whitney - Drums (Tracks 3, 4, 6)

Brian Burns - Drums (Tracks 7, 9, 10)

Michael Bromley - Drums (Track 1 & 2)

Guest Artists:
Nicole Martynov - Backing vocals (Tracks 4, 5, 9)
Donny Miller - Bass (Track 7)

Recorded in the winter of 85-86
Sound Affair Recordings, Santa Ana CA
Engineered by Ron Leeper
Photographer: Eric Cohen

Executive Producers: Lawrence & Patricia Wittrock

The (obviously, understandably self-serving, press release says:

There’s also an insert about ordering the album, t-shirts and photos. I have one of those photos, here.

I’ve plugged all those names into search engines, including the director and the movie title, and come up with zip. The frustrating thing is that I used to be in contact with him. I tracked him down in 1988 when a friend gave me this album and I played it on my radio show. I lost his information (and this album) when I moved to Chicago in 1990. You have to understand that I own about 1500 albums and many more got sold when we came up here. I was beginning to think I’d sold it accidentally! I thought about him often though, and just yesterday I found the album again. Yay! I’m just curious how he’s getting along, and why he never recorded another album (if in fact, that’s the case). Someone sooo talented, and so young, I would have expected great things. Not that I’d say to him “hey, why are you a loser now?”!! I’m just curious. I’m always curious about unused talent.
Thanks astro and nitroglycerine. I appreciate your help. I’ll keep looking.