Richard Warner

Woodwind player (saxophone & flute) and New Age artist.

Warner is perhaps best known for his two classic New Age albums, Quiet Heart and Spirit Wind. These recordings feature Richard on bamboo and alto flutes. Warner has performed (live and on albums) with David Lanz, Michael Tomlinson, Michael Gettel, Eric Tingstad, Nancy Rumbel 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. At 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 up 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), 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.