Richard completed a PhD in Musical Composition at The University of Edinburgh in 2012, and is now Lecturer in Music at the University of Liverpool. Richard is a flute player, composer and arranger. In 1989, he left the UK for New York City where he founded a jazz-latin-funk outfit called 'Groove Collective', with whom he recorded six albums. Groove Collective toured globally, including performances at The North Sea and Montreux Jazz Festival, the Blue Note club in Tokyo and large rock venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Colorado, as well as making appearances on American and European TV.