Richard Rozze is an electric and acoustic guitarist, vocalist, composer and arranger. His musical influences are classic British rock, blues, jazz, Celtic and bluegrass music. He cites his first guitar teacher, Jeff Alexander, who he met at eleven years old, as his major influence. Jeff encouraged him to explore guitarists such as Gary Moore, Paul Kossoff, Eric Johnson, Peter Green, Pierre Bensusan. Later at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Richard studied a Masters in Jazz. Musicians such as Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall lead him to a deeper passion for improvisation.
Since then, Richard has explored bluegrass and Celtic styles with the acoustic group ‘Open Water’. In this group, Richard also showcases his song writing skills, takes lead and harmony vocal duties, plays the Dobro, tenor banjo and mandolin.
Richard’s debut album ‘Learning to Fly’ was released in 2014 and showcases jazz inspired compositions. His arrangement of Jimmy Webb’s Wichita Lineman was featured on BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Line – Up Show.
His latest album ‘Lion’ was released in September 2023 and includes bassist Jonathan Noyce (ex Jethro Tull/Gary Moore) and drummer Simon Lea (Dianne Warwick, Ronnie Wood..) ”’A fine cross genre, song driven album by a visionary guitarist.” Pete Feenstra getreadsytorock.me.uk
He leads the song-writing workshop at Folk Week with his original teacher, Jeff Alexander.
