Album Notes

Diego Rivera is a bright, new voice on the saxophone whose sound emerges from the echoes of the past. In 1999, Rivera toured nationally with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra for their Big Band '99 U.S. tour. Rivera has also toured with internationally reknown bassist, Rodney Whitaker, former member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and current director of Jazz Studies at Michigan State University. Rivera has performed at the Detroit Ford Jazz Festival, Art Tatum Toledo Jazz Festival, Idlewild Jazz Festival and Lansing Jazz Festival. In 2002, Rivera accepted a position as Instructor of Jazz Saxophone and Improvisation at Michigan State University. His commitment to the education of young jazz musicians resulted in his appointment as Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Civic Jazz program. An avid composer and arranger, Rivera has written arrangements for a number of events and concerts, most notably for Jazz at Lincoln Center's "Motor City Jazz" concert, a tribute to the music and musicians of Detroit. Rivera, Derrick Gardner and MSU Jazz Band I, under the direction of Rodney Whitaker performed Rivera's arrangement of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" suite in 2006 at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York City. 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. He currently works in the area with his own group, The Diego Rivera Quartet, and is a member of the Professors of Jazz at MSU. Rivera has also performed with Jon Hendricks, Clark Terry, Jon Faddis, Jimmy Cobb, The Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Wycliffe Gordon, Delfeayo Marsalis, Kurt Elling, Ira Sullivan, Marcus Belgrave and Ali Jackson Jr.