Biography

Richard is a pioneer in the music he calls “Jazz in the Spirit,” a completely new style of music that is a direct musical hybrid, or “child” of its parents, gospel and jazz. Skilled on both saxophone and piano, Richard frequently uses both instruments in performances, sometimes even at the same time.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he defied the negative stereotypes often portrayed in the media by growing up in church, The Concord Baptist Church of Christ, and entering an Ivy League school, Brown University, at the age of 16. Always blazing his own trail, he was the only music major in his entire graduating class to specialize in ethnomusicology, the study of music through culture. He furthered his education at the world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Though he prefers to lead his own group most of the time, he has performed with several well-known performers in both gospel and jazz circles, including the late Max Roach, Patti LaBelle, Barry Harris, Natalie Cole, James Taylor, Bishop T.D. Jakes, the Boston Pops Orchestra, Dr. Bobby Jones, and others.

Feeding his interest in world cultures, he has toured Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Germany, France and Italy as a performer and musical director. He has also done concerts in libraries, nursing homes, neighborhood festivals, and senior citizen centers. Richard has performed several times for Habitat for Humanity volunteers working to build homes in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Richard believes that sharing love and hope through music is a way to impact the “soul” of a community, which can then impact the world.

Visit Amazon.com November 4, 2008 to download the new hit single, "Look and Live."