Biography

A vital presence on the New York City jazz and creative music scene, reed player Jay Rodriguez is an inventive, stylistically boundary-crossing instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. He is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated acid jazz, hip-hop, and Afro-Latin ensemble Groove Collective and has performed with a vibrant cross-section of artists including Celia Cruz, Chucho Valdes, Ray Barretto, Marc Ribot, Arturo O'Farrill, the Wu- Tang Clan, Jason Miles, and more. His own albums have found him exploring jazz and electronic textures as on 2003's Live at the Fez - NYC 07.03.03, 2010's Brooklyn Connection, and 2018's Your Sound: Live at Dizzy's. Born in 1967 in Barranquilla, Colombia, Hernan Ramiro Rodríguez-Sierra grew up in New York City where his family immigrated in 1970. At age 7, he started on the clarinet. He soon expanded to saxophone and flute, studying first with Tito D'Rivera (father of noted reedist Paquito D'Rivera) and later with players like Jesus Garcia, Joe Allard, and Mark Friedman. Interested in jazz and Latin music, he began going to clubs, sitting in at the Village Gate and meeting luminaries like Ray Barretto, Tito Puente, and Dizzy Gillespie. He began taking private lessons with Phil Woods and by age 15, along with attending the famed High School of Performing Arts, he was already playing professionally. He earned a full scholarship to the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where he studied with players like Sir Roland Hanna, Barry Harris, George Coleman, and Kenny Werner, among others. In 1990, he co-founded the genre-bending acid jazz ensemble Groove Collective, mixing post-bop jazz with hip-hop, dance music, and Afro-Latin traditions. The group debuted with 1993's eponymously titled Groove Collective, hitting the Top 20 of Billboard's jazz chart. More albums followed, including 1996's We the People, 1998's Dance of the Drunken Master, and 1999's Declassified, all of which reached the Top 50 of the jazz albums charts. In 2007, they were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for People People Music Music. As a solo artist, Rodriguez has released a mix of live and studio projects. In 1997, he issued an early quartet date, Orimar's Flying Machine, with pianist Barney McAll, bassist Andy McKee, and drummer Victor Jones. In 2001, he teamed with DJ and producer Ron Trent to assemble an experimental duo called Batidos, issuing a full-length record titled Olajope. Two years later, he headed his group on Live at the Fez - NYC 07.03.03, blending funky soul-jazz and electronic sounds with the help of organist Marco Benevento and drummer Joe Russo. In 2007, he collaborated with Chucho Valdez on the concert album Live in Italy. Throughout his career, he has recorded and/or performed with artists from across the jazz, Latin, and pop worlds including Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, Randy Brecker, Eddie Palmieri , Vernon Reid , Marshall Allen, Arturo O'Farrill, Medeski, Martin and Wood, the Wu-Tang Clan, the Roots, Elvis Costello, and more. In 2018, Rodriguez released Your Sound: Live at Dizzy's featuring Billy Harper, Larry Willis, Billy Martin, Eric Wheeler, and J.T. Lewis. He has also worked regularly with guitarist Marc Ribot, and recorded with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, producer Jason Miles, guitarist Will Bernard, and trombonist/composer Craig Harris. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi