When James Richardson's mother suggested piano lessons the seven year old responded with a firm "no."

Four years later he reversed his decision and accepted her offer, which turned out to be a very smart move because he is now a professional pianist who is not only much sought after here, but has also worked in England, and is shortly heading to Paris.

Asked what made him change his mind, he says: "Because I wanted to. Sitting at the piano was such an escape from the heinous reality of childhood."

The response gives more than a clue to his personality. Quick-witted and intelligent, with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and new experiences, Mr. Richardson has never been one to fit into what folk singer Pete Seeger called "little boxes." Instead, he strikes a sensible balance between doing what he has to do as an artist and retaining the free spirit that drives his creativity.

Growing up in Southampton, young James attended several schools, largely because of his focus on music. At the Bermuda Institute he was particularly inspired by fellow student Owsen Simons, who was just two years his senior, and a talented keyboardist. The duo also attended the Southampton Seventh-Day Adventist Church, where Owen "kicked it up" on the organ while his friend sat behind him in the choir studying his every move. Years later, those observations would pay off at that and another church. It was also at the Southampton Seventh-Day Adventist Church that the teenagers studied piano with Ms Gayle Taylor, and where James would surreptitiously climb through a window to practice the organ.

Gospel music was his specific interest, and at home he spent countless hours playing and replaying tapes of this genre as he studied and mastered the piano role section by section.

"That's how I learned the piano - by watching and experimenting," he says. "It didn't take me long to realise that I could not play exactly the same way somebody else did, so then I changed my approach because that was not what I wanted. I wanted to do it differently, and I am still doing that today. People still like it when I play something my way."

In addition to his own creativity, other Bermudians who helped to shape Mr. Richardson's talent were piano teacher and accompanist Mrs. Greta Jones, and Bermuda Institute music teacher Leonard Cann. In fact, the latter was such a great inspiration to the budding pianist that when he left for the United States, James left the school also.

"Mr. Cann was absolutely brilliant, so I transferred to Devonshire Academy because its performing arts programme was up and running and its faculty included people like 'Gandhi' Burgess, 'Shine' Hayward, Ron Lightbourne and Gloria McCully. It was one of the best things that happened. My time there was terrific, and I was the class valedictorian with the highest grade point average," Mr. Richardson remembers.

In fact, while still in high school he sometimes substituted for Mrs. McCully at St. Theresa's cathedral, where she was the organist.

While music was always Mr. Richardson's passion, history and geography were also favourite subjects - preferences which still fascinate him today, and as a "fanatical" reader of everything from thrillers to text books he says that if he had not become a musician, he would probably have been a history teacher. Ironically, as a student he did not take French seriously until, at age 17, he went on tour with Up With People for a year, and began to speak the language. Later he would study French both at the Bermuda College and at Boston's famed Berklee College of Music.

"That experience changed the whole ball game," he says. "I was exposed to the world, and that is when I learned the value of having a second language, and so many other things that we in Bermuda either don't recognise or take for granted."

The tour was not only culturally enriching but also the young Bermudian's ability was such that he became the resident pianist of cast B.

"I was one of only three within the 120-strong cast who performed in every single show for the entire tour," he remembers. "They didn't feel it necessary to give me a back-up pianist, not even when I got tendonitis and had to play with one hand for a month! So I just had to do what I had to do because the show must go on."

It is that same sense of professionalism which keeps him focussed today.

"For a musician, your name is all you have, so you have to deliver," he says.

And it seems that James Richardson delivers big time, for fellow musicians and members of the public regularly describe his talent as "awesome." Certainly, he enjoys interacting with other musicians, but makes it clear that when they share the same stage with him there are standards to maintain.

"It is always down to the individual," he says. "We can be best friends off the bandstand, but on the bandstand we have a job to do. If I am going to get up there and strut my stuff I am going to make sure I have stuff to strut, and they must do the same. It's as simple as that."

Following his return from the Up with People tour, Mr. Richardson first elected to pursue an academic path, but one semester at Bermuda College was all it took to convince him that music was indeed his destiny.

"I started gigging during the last throes of College Weeks, and that was when I got into the calypso vibes and hotels. In fact, it was 'Shine' Hayward who gave me my first hotel gig," he says.

In time, however, the eternal thirst for artistic expansion overtook the business of earning a living, and in 1992 Mr. Richardson enrolled in Berklee. Just 19 years old, he chose professional music as his major. Yet again the gifted Bermudian saw a different light, and his creative spirit yearned to fly.

"I realised Berklee was a factory, and I thought it best to get out while I still had a bit of my individuality intact," he says. "It is a machine, and I didn't want to be part of that. They don't turn out fine musicians, fine musicians enrol in Berklee. It is a place to refine your skills."

If that sounds like arrogance, it isn't. Rather, it is a typical, no-nonsense take on how Mr. Richardson views life, liberty and the pursuit of artistic excellence.

So in 1995 he returned to Bermuda, where his talent was in great demand until, in 1999 he left for England armed with nothing more than one contact address and the desire to expand his career. He quickly learned where jam sessions were taking place, turned up and introduced himself, and was on his way. Gigs, tours, studio work, and workshops in Oxford, where he settled and London soon followed.

"My first workshop was with 'Third World' drummer Willy Stewart," he says. "I also taught workshops for children in Blackbird Leys (Oxford) and London."

Mr. Richardson's nonconformist approach also led him to spontaneously sit down and play the piano one day in Worcester cathedral, drawing a sudden audience.

"After all, I learned to play in church," he smiles, "and I played the most unlikely things. In fact, my favourite thing is to take a classical theme and play it as people expect it to be played, and then improvise and tear it up and get those composers spinning in their graves. Turn, Beethoven, turn, baby!"

Asked what he particularly liked about his time in Britain, the pianist looks askance. "I didn't go there to like it but to get away from here," he exclaims. "It was about broadening and developing and making contacts."

The same held true last autumn when, following his stellar, sell-out show here in July, Mr. Richardson worked in France and Holland. Now he has his sights set on Paris in the Spring, following a busy and successful winter at home.

"Paris is a city of music - a very artistic city where you feel more free to create and do things," he says. "I have some plans to do some recording, so it will be a mix of that and live performances. It may also be like England, where a lot of my income came from studio work. I will introduce myself and show them what I am about."

Regarding the local music scene, Mr. Richardson's advice to aspiring musicians is typically direct.

"You have to keep the material sharp and fresh, and you have to be versatile, which is good in one sense because it helps you to grow as a musician, and that in turn helps you to go overseas. It all comes down to education: 'Do you really want to do this, or do you want to prance around for the girls and get lucky tonight?' You can do that too, of course, but don't try to pass yourself off as a serious musician."

Asked how he sees his own future, the soft-spoken pianist sums it up in one word: "Bright."

It is a response which reflects the confidence that comes from years of study, hard work, and the sheer joy of fulfilling one's destiny as a performer. Put him in a crowd and he is uncomfortable, but put him on stage before an audience of any size and James Richardson is in his element - and very much his own man.

"I have come to a point where I am no longer concerned with or constricted by what people may or may not think or say. As a child you want to conform, but then you realise you are not like everybody else. I cannot fit into this box, and I don't want to fit into it. I have to be myself and do what it is I do."

Mr. Richardson is currently appearing at the Fairmont Southampton Princess Hotel's Jasmine Lounge with vocalist Sheila Smith on Sundays from 9 p.m. to midnight, and at Hilly's Jazz Club and Coffee Bar on Front Street on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and on Fridays from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. This Thursday he will be joined by Wencey Woolridge (bass), Dexter Flood (drums), Winston DeGraff (horn).

His website is www.playingjames.com