Richard Spaven has been playing with Blue Note Records artist José James for the last couple of years. They are currently on a European and US tour promoting their album 'No Beginning No End', with dates that include prestigious festivals like the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Other artists Richard has worked with include names like producer Flying Lotus, Guru, and Cinematic Orchestra, to name a few.

In June 2013 Richard visited the Meinl factory and headquarters in Gutenstetten, Germany and worked on choosing his personal cymbal set-up together with Meinl's International A&R Manager Norbert Saemann. Says Norbert:

"After one day of cymbal testing we nailed down Richard's set which includes our Byzance Dark, Extra Dry, and Vintage Series. Richard is a great cymbal player. He knows how to make them sound beautiful and use them in a very musical context. We make cymbals for drummers like Richard."