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, 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. In addition to these activities, Richard is keeping an active jazz performance schedule.