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Richard Doron Johnson
Richard was first introduced to the piano by his father, a gospel pianist
in the church, at the age of five. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where
jazz greats Art Blakey, Ray Brown, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Ahmad
Jamal and many more lived, Richard has strong territorial jazz roots.
During his junior year in high school he formed his first jazz trio with
the help of his band director in Massachusetts.
In high school Richard won Best Jazz Soloist in the State for two consecutive
years and attended All-State Chorus. During this time, he gained more
experience performing at jazz camps in upstate New York . A few jazz greats
such as Milt Hinton, Bobby Watson and Ed Shaugnessy were very influential
to him in his formative jazz years. He also shared musical moments with
Herb Pomeroy, Billy Pierce and Roy Hargrove. In his pursuit of music excellence,
he entered the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, at the
age of eighteen.
Upon graduating from Berklee School of Music in just two years, he immediately
entered the Boston Conservatory where he earned a Masters degree in Jazz
Pedagogy in 1997. In April 1998, Richard participated in the Thelonious
Monk Institute South American Tour as part of the United States Cultural
Presentation at the Presidential Summit in Santiago, Chile. He was the
only piano player to play side by side with Herbie Hancock on that tour.
During that year he also performed with the Monk Institute Sextet led
by bassist Ron Carter and the Park Plaza Hotel in New York alongside T.S.
Monk and the Jazz Colony.
In May of 1999, Richard graduated from the Thelonious Monk Institute of
Jazz Performance at NEC under the direction of influential Ron Carter.
Upon arriving in New York City within a matter of weeks Richard became
a member of Wynton Marsalis' Septet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
from 2000-2003. He also was part of Russell Malone's quartet as well as
Irvin Mayfield's quintet. On May 24th 2001, Richard led his own trio on
a two month tour of South and Central America.
Richard continues to work extensively with jazz icons such as Russell
Malone, Wynton Marsalis, Arturo Sandoval, Vanessa Rubin, Bobby Watson
and Herbie Hancock. Currently Richard has been spending a lot of effort
working to educate youth of all ages. He has recently completed residencies
with Jazz Aspen and the Thelonious Monk Institute. He is also on the faculty
for the Middle School Jazz Academy, which is a new program led by Jazz
at Lincoln Center . He is also writing and teaching a new program for
high school students at the Brooklyn Academy . His Reach AFAR “Jazz
to Hip-Hop” programs have been extremely popular in schools across
Atlanta in conjunction with the performing band “AFAR.” In
addition to these activities, Richard is keeping an active jazz performance
schedule. His current jazz trio features Carlos Henriquez on acoustic
bass and Ali Jackson on drums.
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