Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera is a world-class tenor and soprano saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator. He teaches in and serves as Associate Director of Jazz Studies at Michigan State University. He is also director of the award-winning ensemble MSU Jazz Octet 1.
Rivera possesses a direct, robust tone that recalls the emotive “tough tenor” era of Johnny Griffin and Gene "Jug" Ammons; one can also hear the tonal influences of Ben Webster and the modal approach of John Coltrane in his soprano playing. Though he leads and performs with his own quartet, he is a member of Rodney Whitaker’s quartet, Detroit’s Gathering Orchestra, and Jazz Orchestra @ Dr. Phillips. He released Hercules, his leader debut, in 2006 but touring, studio, and educational work kept him from recording regularly until 2013′s The Contender, which went to number ten at Jazz Radio. After another long break working with others, he signed to Posi-Tone for 2019′s Connections. Indigenous followed in 2020, and Mestizo in 2022.
Rivera was born to a Mexican-American family in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1977, but was raised and educated in nearby East Lansing. He was named after the renowned Mexican painter and muralist. Rivera began his music studies at eight. He attended Michigan State University where he studied with Andrew Speight, Branford Marsalis, Ron Blake, and Whitaker.
After graduating, he began his professional career with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra during their Big Band ’99 tour.
In 2002, Rivera accepted a position as an instructor of Jazz Saxophone and Improvisation at Michigan State University. His commitment to the education of young musicians resulted in his appointment as Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Civic Jazz Ensembles. In 2005,Rivera was commissioned by the Center for Great Lakes Culture to compose and premiere a Jazz Suite in honor of civil rights activist Dolores Huerta. During the early part of his MSU tenure, he formed the Diego Rivera Quartet and woodshedded during a three-year residency at East Lansing’s Harper’s, developing the modern jazz sound heard on their 2006 self-released debut, Hercules.
Rivera and trumpeter Derrick Gardner, under the direction of Whitaker, performed the saxophonist’s arrangement of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” suite in 2006 at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York City. Rivera has also written charts for numerous events, including Jazz at Lincoln Center’s “Motor City Jazz” concerts and for Whitaker’s and Carl Allen’s 2007 Mack Avenue album Get Ready. That same year he played on Ron Di Salvio’s and Jimmy Cobb’s Essence of Green: A Tribute to Kind of Blue. In 2008 he returned to work with Whitaker and Allen, arranging tunes on their outing Work to Do.
Rivera returned to recording as a bandleader on 2013′s The Contender for D Clef Records. The star-studded 11-track date featured Whitaker, drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., pianist Miki Hayama, trombonist/producer Michael Dease, trumpeter Greg Gisbert, and vibraphonist Behn Gillece. The program included eight Rivera originals and covers of tunes by Stevie Wonder, Jerome Kern, and Horace Silver. The following year he played on Dease’s Posi-Tone debut Relentless, Owens, Jr.’s Onward & Upward, and the New Century Jazz Quintet’s The Time Is Now. In 2015 he played on the trombonist’s Decisions, and in Dease’s group for 2017′s All These Hands and 2018′s Bonafide.
Rivera signed his own deal with Posi-Tone in early 2019 and released Connections in September. With Dease as his partner on the front line, the date also included North Carolina pianist Luther Allison, drummer Jason Tiemann, and bassist Endea Owens, as well as guests. The 11-track set included five Rivera compositions and readings of tunes by Christian McBride (whom Rivera periodically toured with), Dease, McCoy Tyner, and Coltrane.
That same year, Rivera was awarded the Dortha J. and John D. Withrow Teaching Award, the College of Music’s highest honor for excellence in teaching and scholarly achievement.
In February 2021, Rivera issued Indigenous, his second date for Posi-Tone — crisscrossed musical and cultural terrain. He included Cannonball Adderley’s “Marabi,” an homage to South African musicians, Álvaro Carrillo’s famous bolero “Sabor a Mi,” and Yaakov Rotblit’s famous Israeli anti-war anthem “Shir LaShalom,” alongside a kaleidoscopic selection of post-bop and Latin-inspired originals. That same year, Rivera played on the Ulysses Owens, Jr. Big Band’s debut recording, Soul Conversations.
In February 2022, the saxophonist released Mestizo, his third album for the label. Leading a quartet that included trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, pianist Art Hirahara, bassist Kozlov, and drummer Rudy Royston. Among its ten topically poignant originals is “Battle Fatigue,” composed in April 2021 literally moments after the conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. In addition to his own compositions, Rivera included readings of Wayne Shorter’s “Teru” and Kenny Dorham’s Afro-Cuban fantasia “Escapade.” ~ Thom Jurek