“A rising force in avant-garde jazz…a virtuoso of otherworldy sound” (Jazz Times)
Hailed by The New York Times as “boldly inventive” trumpeter and composer Steph Richards bridges jazz and experimental music with multimedia performance. She’s presented at venues worldwide including Lincoln Center, the Blue Note, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Sawdust, the Guggenheim, the Park Avenue Armory, the Barbican (UK), Berliner Konzerthaus (Germany), and Bimhuis (Netherlands).
Richards has collaborated with pioneering artists in creative music and art, with recordings ranging from work with Henry Threadgill, Anthony Davis, Anthony Braxton and Jason Moran to Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson and David Byrne. A founding member of Bang on a Can’s Asphalt Orchestra, she also has performed with leading new music and improvisation ensembles such as the International Contemporary Ensemble and Braxton’s Tricentric Orchestra.
As a recording artist, Richards has released five acclaimed solo albums—including Supersense (2019), which combined music with custom scent art, and Zephyr (2021)—both awarded multiple “Best of the Year” distinctions and earning recognition from The New York Times, DownBeat, Jazz Times, and NPR. Her work as an improviser, composer, and conductor of experimental ensembles continues to expand the language of contemporary music on an international scale.
Building on her formative work with “Conduction” innovator Butch Morris, Richards has become a leading voice in this practice. Since his passing, she has developed the approach through her own projects, leading ensembles and orchestras worldwide—including Mexico’s Orquesta Academia Cervantina (Guanajuato) and Ensemble Semana de Improvisación (Ensenada), as well as groups in Colombia, Luxembourg, and the United States, including Phantom Station (San Diego), Royal Room Collective (Seattle), and Listen/Space Ensemble (Park City, UT)—continually expanding the possibilities of collective, experimental music-making.
Originally from Canada, Richards has spent much of her career in NYC and on the West Coast. Richards has championed artistic diversity as Executive Producer and Vice President of the Festival of New Trumpet (FONT) in New York City and Font West in San Diego. She holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, McGill University and the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). She has served on the faculty of the Chosen Vale Center for Advanced Musical Studies alongside Hakan Hardenberger, the Banff Centre for Jazz & Creative Music Workshop alongside Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey, and as Professor at the University of California, San Diego. She recently joined the faculty at the University of Washington, Seattle, where she continues to foster interdisciplinary creative making. Richards is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
NPR’s Fresh Air critic Kevin Whitehead writes:
“Listening through Steph’s music can feel like scrolling through an extravagant special effects library, one uniquely attuned to the human condition as well as the remarkable expanse of music that makes up avant-garde and experimental jazz. Sounding like everything from a synthesized Louis Armstrong to whales barking at the moon, Steph has created a sonic palette contoured perfectly to the bands she leads, as well as the internationally renowned artists she collaborates with.”
Booking inquiries contact AKAMU Productions: alberto@akamu.net