As a freelance artist he has performed with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Henry Mancini, Ray Charles and Nelson Riddle.
Riggs directed the Two O'Clock Lab Band while coordinating the world's largest enrollment of saxophone students.
[1] The Two O'Clock Lab Band was named "winner" in Downbeat Magazine's "Annual Student Music Awards" in 1994, 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2008.
He has produced many national and international award-winning saxophonists, including first-place winners and finalists in the North American Saxophone Alliance Young Artist Competition, semifinalists in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition (Luis Hernandez 2002; Dave Pietro 1991 & 1996; Clay Pritchard 2013), and winners in Down Beat Magazine Student Music Solo Awards.
Riggs former students hold teaching and performing positions in numerous colleges and universities throughout the United States and in elite military bands in Washington, D.C. His students hold first call professional playing positions across the globe including Hamburg, New York City and Los Angeles.