About Vicki Richards

Vicki Richards musical roots are in traditional Indian Raga and Classical Music. With the infusion of electronics, she continues to evolve her unique musical contributions in performance and in recordings over the past 3 decades. Recordings and performances include collaborations with members of Weather Report and the Zawinul Syndicate: Robert Thomas Jr & Amitava Chatterjee

Billboard included her Parting The Waters CD in Best Progressive 100 recordings.
Ms Richards was the recipient of grants for Professional Development in India by the American Institute of Indian Studies and the Smithsonian.

She has performed in many venues from India to Carnegie Recital Hall, and in concert with choreographers, dancers and eclectic ensembles.

Ms Richards began her professional career in an orchestra while simultaneously playing electric avant-garde fusion on electric violin many years before those instruments were commercially available.

Curiosity about improvised music led her to North Indian Classical Musical studies in Banaras. She was a student of Pt Amarnath Mishra and is a disciple of violinist Padmashree N. Rajam and tablist Pandit Sharda Sahai.

Currently Ms Richards and collaborators Jorge Alfano, Mitch Kopp & Jeff Deen are performing at venues from concert stages to ashrams and recording their music.

Ms Richards is a well known clinician at American String Teachers Assoc (ASTA). Her topics range from translating the intriguing music of North India to the evolution of her own style of East West Fusion.
Recordings have been reviewed by The Jazz TImes, Billboard, San Francisco Chronicle and more.

She has attended Indiana University's School of Music and earned her BMus from University of Miami's Frost School of Music.

Website: www.vickirichards.net

Vicki Richards joined the JazzTimes community on Sep 15, 2010