Richard Warner
As Billboard magazine noted recently, Richard Warner was making New Age music before the genre existed. He is perhaps best known for his two classic New Age albums, Quiet Heart and Spirit Wind. These recordings, which feature Richard on bamboo and alto flutes, have just been remastered are now available in a double CD set (with 15 minutes of new material!). On his latest release, Spirit of the Tao Te Ching, Richard continues to create music which is melodic and uplifting, yet wonderfully calming and centering. This latest recording is receiving enthusiastic airplay on hundreds of stations around the country.
Many of you may also have heard of Richard through his performances (live and on albums) over the past 10 years with David Lanz, Michael Tomlinson, Michael Gettel, Eric Tingstad, Nancy Rumble and many others. Richard played flute and soprano sax on Lanz's gold recording, Christofori's Dream. Tomlinson's hit single, Dawning on a New Day, featured Richard on soprano sax.
Richard grew up in San Diego, where he and his two brothers listened to a wide range of music - folk music, bluegrass, classical and jazz. He took piano and flute lessons and continued playing flute (and guitar and banjo!) into high school. In college (Pomona College) he studied mathematics and philosophy. Upon graduating, he spent a year at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and six months on a Kibbutz in Israel. Richard returned to the L.A. area and worked as a house parent for two years in a home for emotionally disturbed children. But he continued his flute studies, picked p saxophone along the way, and eventually decided to embark upon a music career. He spent a year at Boston's Berklee College and then returned to the L.A. area, where he continued his jazz studies and played in a variety of groups.
In 1978 Richard was given a bamboo flute by a friend. At the time he was living near Los Angeles and just beginning a career as a jazz musician (flute, alto and soprano saxes). The term "New Age music" was virtually unheard of. But several people suggested that he record the music he was creating on the bamboo flute. In 1980 he moved to Seattle and two years later his solo bamboo flute album, Quiet Heart , was recorded.
The follow-up album, Spirit Wind, was released in 1984 and featured Richard on bamboo flute and alto flute. Tuned glass crystals provided the harmonic background on one of the pieces. They were played and recorded "live" (by Richard and six friends) in the same hallway in which Quiet Heart had been recorded in 1982.
He performs with several groups in the Seattle area (including with guitarist Phil Sheeran - catch him on Phil's new Christmas CD), playing Brazilian, Calypso and jazz, and is in demand as a studio musician. His latest album, Spirit of the Tao Te Ching, on the Narada label, marks his debut as a Narada artist. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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