I started playing piano aged 8 and have been interested in jazz, blues, improvisation, contemporary and world music ever since. I actually dislike all these labels and love to mix elements of all of them, which sometimes confuses audiences, purists and critics!
As a teenager I listened to Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck, Dudley Moore, Otis Spann, Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson, but my more recent pianistic influences have included McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans, Duke Ellington, Horace Silver, Wynton Kelly, Hampton Hawes, Gene Harris, Abdullah Ibrahim, Professor Longhair, James Booker, Henry Butler, Ahmad Jamal, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock.
I've been a bandleader and composer since the early 1980s, mainly with my own quartet/quintet SPIRIT LEVEL (1979-1999) which toured throughout Europe and released about 7 albums, featuring (amongst others) saxophonists Paul Dunmall and Jerry Underwood and trumpeters Dave Holdsworth and Jack Walrath (USA, ex-Mingus).
I also enjoy playing "straight-ahead" gigs with bass and drums, as the TIM RICHARDS TRIO, an outfit that has perfomed in venues from Inverness to Istanbul and released two albums on the 33 Records label - please see my website for details.
Currently, my main performing and composing project is the nine-piece band GREAT SPIRIT, reviewed recently in the OBSERVER MUSIC MONTHLY thus:
"Jazz supergroup whose passion proves inspirational... Contagious rhythmic energy... makes you want to do heroic deeds like climb Everest or swim the Atlantic... Not a dull moment from beginning to end." (Stuart Nicholson)
We aim to show that contemporary jazz is vibrantly alive in the C21st, and that it can appeal to a broad cross-section of people of all ages and cultures. Since our formation in 1999 we have released two CDs and toured the UK several times with a line-up that has included some of London's most dynamic jazz musicians, world-class players such as Pete King, Denys Baptiste, Gilad Atzmon, Ed Jones and Jason Yarde.
Founder members Tony Kofi (baritone sax), Roger Beaujolais (vibes) and Dick Pearce (trumpet) are featured on our latest CD 'Epistrophy' (33Jazz120), released in 2005 to universal acclaim, eg:
"Immediately accessible, wide-ranging album... as infectiously enjoyable as it is carefully constructed and programmed... blues and post-bop jazz, tinged with funk, African and Latin influences... powerful, earthy, dramatic music... a judiciously balanced band in top form."
Chris Parker - JAZZ AT RONNIE SCOTTS
Track listing and more press reviews can be viewed at:
www.timrichards.ndo.co.uk/EpistrophyCD.html
In autumn 2006 GREAT SPIRIT embarked on their fourth UK tour, with support from the PRS FOUNDATION for New Music, JAZZ SERVICES Ltd and the MUSICIANS UNION. They were joined by one of Finland's top jazz musicians, Jari Perkiomaki (alto/soprano sax). Head of the jazz section at Helsinki's prestigious Sibelius Academy, Perkiomaki has performed all over the world with his own trio/quartet. He joined the Pori Big Band in 1977 when only 16, later conducting the band with special US guest Kenny Garrett in 2005. He has previously appeared in the UK with Ed Jones' Anglo-Finnish band, and trumpeter Mika Myllari.
In my compositions and arrangements for the band I try to combine structure and freedom, the earthiness of blues and funk, the harmonies of contemporary jazz and the rhythms of Africa...
"Richards' arrangements are terrific, and the choice of material just as good... A landmark achievement in a long career."
John Fordham - THE GUARDIAN
I hope you enjoy listening to the tracks I've uploaded here. These CDs (and many other British jazz albums on independent labels) can be purchased online from www.jazzcds.co.uk - some tracks are also downloadable from iTunes.
To hear my non-jazz compositional work please visit my other MySpace page: www.myspace.com/timrichardscomposer
