Trevor Richards

TREVOR RICHARDS (drums) was born in England in 1945 and emigrated to New Orleans when he was 21. As a result he learned the art of classic jazz drums from the pioneers of the music: among many others Zutty Singleton, Cozy Cole (both drummers with the legendary Louis Armstrong) and Ray Bauduc. He is one of the few drummers - possibly the last - to stand as a direct representative of this endangered species of drumming. Trevor has been on tour, on stage and in the studio with many jazz greats, e.g. Albert Nicholas, Punch Miller, George Lewis, Benny Waters, Chris Barber and Dr. John. Today he is active in his home town New Orleans and throughout Europe. In 1986 he received the highest commendation from the National Endowment of the Arts, he was the recipient of a European media award as Drummer of the Year and was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque de Jazz by the Hot Club de France for his trio CD with Evan Christopher. As a result of the catastrophic flood in New Orleans - on his 60th birthday! - Trevor now lives once again predominantly in Europe. What could be salvaged of his extensive collection of jazz records and literature, memorabilia and historical percussion instruments now forms The Trevor Richards Collection, located at the International Jazz Archive of the Lippmann & Rau Foundation in Eisenach, Germany. Since the 70s he has been considered the most important representative of the classic trio formation with horn, piano and drums and is one of the most popular figures in the world of classic jazz today worldwide.