Born in Pittsburgh, home to jazz greats Art Blakey, Ray Brown, Jeff "Tain" Watts and Ahmad Jamal, Richard D. Johnson has strong territorial jazz roots. He was first introduced to the piano at the age of five by his father, a gospel pianist in the church. After graduating from the Berklee School of Music in just two years, Richard entered the Boston Conservatory where he earned a Master’s degree in Jazz Pedagogy. He then went on to receive an Artist Performance Diploma at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at New England Conservatory under the direction of the influential Ron Carter.
Richard was invited to become a member of Wynton Marsalis' Septet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, which he did from 2000-2003. He also played as part of the Russell Malone Quartet Quartet. Currently Richard is president of Afarmusic LLC a company he founded that represents artist worldwide. In his current role he performs with world- class artist promoting jazz to a vast array of audiences. Richard provides educational language guidance for immigrants speaking Spanish in America. He also teaches at Peabody conservatory the oldest Conservatory in the country.
