"…this jazz is human, detailed, full of love and passion. It is as personal as it is virtuostic, maybe the highest compliment one can pay…"
- Andrew Freund, New York Music Critic

"... brilliant, fertile ... both as a player and writer he consistently manages to match simply stated passion to far ranging imagination."
-Earshot Jazz

“The brazen display of emotional range emanating from the man’s horn is overwhelming."
-John Barron – All About Jazz 

"Cole shows he is still in the vanguard of hard-blowing, progressive tenors, with a softer side that emerges from time to time.."
- Dave Nathan, All Music Guide

Fans, critics and musicians place Richard Cole in the first rank of his generation's jazz saxophonists.

A nationally acclaimed talent, Richard is among the most in-demand musicians in the burgeoning jazz scene in the Pacific Northwest.

Beside work with such jazz greats as Randy Brecker, Dave Holland, Adam Nussbaum, Julian Priester and John Fedchock, he has toured with New Orleans icon, Dr. John, fusion star Dan Siegel, performed with r&b legends Gladys Knight, The Temptations, The Spinners and The Four Tops while also composing and performing his own music. Add to all this performances with the Seattle Symphony.

Richard's music is clearly jazz, following forward from the intense traditions of the jazz masters, yet it is enriched by the many lessons learned from his wide range of musical experiences.

 Richard cites numerous influences including the seminal jazz performances of John Coltrane and Joe Henderson. He studied music at Western Washington University and taught woodwinds, ensembles and improvisation at the prestigious Cornish School of Music in Seattle, Washington, Musicworks NW, a non-profit music school in Bellevue, Washington and Edmonds Community College in Edmonds, Washington

 Richard’s latest album for the Origin label, Inner Mission, features modern jazz giant Randy Brecker. 

Note: Richard Cole is not to be mistaken for the very fine alto saxophonist, Richie Cole