For over 40 years Ian has been making music on stage and in the studio with an array of well known figures.
He has produced records for Roger Waters, Pete Wylie, Laurie Anderson and The Big Dish.
He has played on recordings by The Beach Boys, Wham, Dee C. Lee, The Boomtown Rats, David Grant, Steel Pulse and Aswad.
He has composed many memorable TV themes, incidental music and advertising jingles for The Lonely Planet series, The Globetrekker series and innumerable British and U.S. TV advertisements.
He plays saxophones and flutes in a range of styles and is equally at home playing solos from "The Dark Side Of The Moon" and "Wish You Were Here" with Roger Waters, ambient free improvisations with ecstatic dance collective URUBU, jazz with his own SOHO Project and Ian Ritchie Allstars and rock n' roll with Deaf School.
Latest News
May 9th, 2023 - "My Nine Lives" is now available on all streaming and downloading platforms. Check out links here :
May 27, 2022 - I have a new album out! It is only available on CD so if you want a copy please follow this link :
For reasons I won't go into here I am no longer part of the 'This Is Not A Drill Tour'. The upside is I will have plenty of time to pursue playing my new album live. The first steps will be to reprise the Dollis Chill solo performances in live music venues and clubs around London. Watch this space for upcoming shows.
May 27, 2022 - So it has been a while, but I will shortly be blogging again! In the middle of June I will head to the US to start rehearsals for the Roger Waters This Is Not A Drill tour. I am suitably excited and looking forward to being on the road again. You can view THE BLOG at the usual place.
November 06, 2020 - A new song written by myself and Holly Penfield called 'What A Weird World This Is' has just been released. It features the great Dave Kilminster on guitar. See the video here :
You can also listen to the track on all streaming and download sites.
May 9, 2020 - During the lockdown I have been broadcasting on Facebook Live. You can see them in real time a couple of times a week. The shows are archived here :
April 15, 2020 - Roger Waters 'This Is Not A Drill' tour which was scheduled to start in July of this year has been postponed due to the Covid-19 epidemic sweeping the world. Roger is hoping to go out next year if all is well by then. In the meantime I have been doing Facebook Live broadcasts of my Chillout repertoire featuring tunes I have recorded in the past with added sax or flute. Updates on my Facebook page :
December 10, 2018 - The Us+Them tour has come to an end. Monterrey was the last show and the UK contingent ( including Roger ) fly back to Stansted tomorrow. The whole 2 year touring experience was amazing. So many memorable moments. I get the impression that Roger has at least one more tour in him. I hope to be a part of whatever he dreams up.
November 23, 2018 - The South American tour has been great. Stadium shows in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Colombia and now Costa Rica. There were only two really wet occasions where the weather was against us. This didn't seem to affect how much the audience enjoyed themselves! In a couple of days we move to Mexico and indoor shows. Us+Them will finish up in Monterrey in about three weeks.
October 1, 2018 - Off to South America in a couple of days. The European leg was fantastic. We move to larger venues in South America. The show will be similar to the one we performed in Lucca and Rome, which were both outdoor shows. I am looking forward to it. Roger has a few surprises in store.
August 5, 2018 - We have just started the last leg of the European tour in Poland.
May 26, 2018 - About 6 weeks in to the 'Us+Them' European tour with Roger Waters. The tour is going very well. Most of the shows have been sold out and the audiences have been fantastic. Currently flying to Zurich for 2 shows.
April 9, 2018 - Off again! Heading to Barcelona for some rehearsals with RW and band. Two shows in that town before setting off on a 3 month jaunt around Europe!!! Blogging as ever.
January 8, 2018 - Happy New Year everyone. I have an exciting year in prospect with tours in Australasia, Europe and Central and South America with Roger Waters. I will keep a blog as always. Previous blogs can be viewed here.
November 3, 2017 - That is it for the North American leg of the Roger Waters Us+Them tour. It has been incredibly successful with almost all the 65 shows selling out. I have enjoyed every minute and am looking forward to 2018, when we will tour in Australasia, Europe and Central and South America. My blog will resume in mid January 2018.
July 10, 2017 - The tour is going very well. Audiences have been very accepting both of the political parts of the show and the largely new band. We survived Texas. Had a blast in Los Angeles. Cycled a lot in San Francisco and ate Gumbo in New Orleans. About another month to go before we have a three week rest, then back to New York to start the last leg in the USA and Canada.
May 22, 2017 - The tour is underway with the first show in front of an invited audience at Meadowlands, NY. My blog will tell all.
May 10, 2017 - I am currently in New York City, about to embark on the second leg of rehearsals for Roger Waters' 'Us And Them' tour of North America. We have another couple of weeks production rehearsals to go, before setting off for Kansas City. I will keep a blog as usual, which can be accessed from the link above.
Oct 21, 2016 - Back from the amazing month and a bit on the road with Roger Waters. My BLOG describing the experience will stay online and a large number of pictures ( in addition to the ones contained in the blog ) are available on Flickr here :
Oct 1, 2016 - I am curently on tour with Roger Waters. We have just completed 2 shows at Foro Sol, Mexico City and today will appear at Zocalo Square in front of upwards of 200,000 people. For more details see my ongoing BLOG and posts on my Facebook page.
Aug 2, 2016 - I will be keeping a BLOG during the period I will be rehearsing and gigging with Roger Waters. It will start around the 9th of September, when the band will convene in the USA for band rehearsals.
Jun 29, 2016 - - My tour of the Czech Republic and Slovakia went very well. There are many photos from the tour on FLICKR. I have been playing occasional shows with Nat and the Noise Brigade and hope to get busier in the festival season. Talking of festivals, I will be playing at Desert Trip in Coachella in October. This is a 3 day festival featuring full shows from The Stones, Bob Dylan, The Who, Neil Young, Paul McCartney and Roger Waters ( with whom I will be playing ). I am very excited!
