Michael Rodriguez

Trumpeter/composer Michael Rodriguez was born July 14, 1979, in Queens. Inspired to pursue music as a career by his father, drummer Roberto Rodriguez, he studied at the New World School of the Arts and the University of Miami before receiving his BA from the New School University in New York City.

Rodriguez has toured and performed with jazz icons including Clark Terry, Bobby Watson, Quincy Jones, Joe Lovano, the Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra, Jessica Simpson, the Chico O’Farrill Orchestra, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, Jon Faddis and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Carla Bley Band and Quintet, the Clayton Brothers, the Kenny Barron Quintet, Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side Projects, Harry Connick Jr., Bob Mintzer, Yosvany Terry Quintet, the Eddie Palmieri Septet, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.

Rodriguez’s recordings include Charlie Haden’s Grammy-winning Land of the Sun, featuring Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Joe Lovano; and the Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra albums Not in Our Name and Time/Life. In 2008, he joined the Gonzalo Rubalcaba Quintet, with which he recorded Avatar (Blue Note), and in 2019, he joined Chick Corea’s Spanish Heart Band, which won a best Latin jazz album Grammy for Antidote in 2020. He is also a member of the SFJazz Collective.

Rodriguez and his brother, pianist Robert Rodriguez, have recorded five albums together on their own label, RodBros Music, including Introducing the Rodriguez Brothers, Mood Swing, and, in 2023, Reunited: Live at Dizzy’s. He’s also released Conversations (Savant) and Impromptu (Criss Cross), which was nominated for a best Latin jazz Grammy in 2015. Rodriguez has released two albums as a leader, Reverence (Criss Cross) and Pathways (RodBros Music). He is also a clinician and on the New York University faculty.