Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera stands out as a premier saxophonist on both tenor and soprano, while also distinguishing himself through his work as a composer, arranger, and educator. He holds the role of Associate Director of Jazz Studies at Michigan State University, where he instructs students, and he directs the prize-winning MSU Jazz Octet 1.

His playing features a straightforward, powerful sound reminiscent of the expressive "tough tenor" period associated with Johnny Griffin and Gene "Jug" Ammons, while his soprano work reflects tonal elements from Ben Webster alongside the modal style of John Coltrane. Although he fronts his own quartet for performances and recordings, Rivera participates in Rodney Whitaker's quartet, Detroit's Gathering Orchestra, and Jazz Orchestra @ Dr. Phillips. His first outing as a leader, Hercules, appeared in 2006, yet extensive touring, studio sessions, and teaching commitments delayed further releases until The Contender in 2013, which reached number ten on Jazz Radio. Following another extended period of sideman activity, he joined Posi-Tone and issued Connections in 2019, with Indigenous arriving the next year and Mestizo following in 2022.

Born in 1977 to a Mexican-American family in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Rivera grew up and received his schooling in nearby East Lansing, receiving his name from the celebrated Mexican painter and muralist. He started formal music training at age eight and later enrolled at Michigan State University, where his mentors included Andrew Speight, Branford Marsalis, Ron Blake, and Whitaker.

Upon completing his studies, Rivera launched his professional path with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra on the Big Band '99 tour.

In 2002 he joined Michigan State University as an instructor of Jazz Saxophone and Improvisation, and his dedication to mentoring emerging players led to his appointment as Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Civic Jazz Ensembles. The Center for Great Lakes Culture commissioned him in 2005 to create and debut a Jazz Suite honoring civil rights activist Dolores Huerta. Early in his MSU career, Rivera established the Diego Rivera Quartet and refined his approach during a three-year residency at East Lansing's Harper's, shaping the contemporary jazz style captured on their 2006 self-released debut, Hercules.

Alongside trumpeter Derrick Gardner and under Whitaker's direction, Rivera presented his arrangement of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" suite at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York City in 2006. He has prepared additional arrangements for various projects, among them Jazz at Lincoln Center's "Motor City Jazz" concerts and Whitaker's and Carl Allen's 2007 Mack Avenue release Get Ready. That year he also contributed to Ron Di Salvio's and Jimmy Cobb's Essence of Green: A Tribute to Kind of Blue. He rejoined Whitaker and Allen in 2008 to arrange selections for their album Work to Do.

Rivera resumed leading sessions with 2013's The Contender on D Clef Records. The eleven-track recording, featuring an all-star lineup of Whitaker, drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., pianist Miki Hayama, trombonist/producer Michael Dease, trumpeter Greg Gisbert, and vibraphonist Behn Gillece, contained eight originals by Rivera plus interpretations of material by Stevie Wonder, Jerome Kern, and Horace Silver. The following year he appeared 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 participated in the trombonist's Decisions, then joined Dease's ensemble for All These Hands in 2017 and Bonafide in 2018.

Early in 2019 Rivera secured his own contract with Posi-Tone and delivered Connections that September. Sharing the front line with Dease, the session also enlisted North Carolina pianist Luther Allison, drummer Jason Tiemann, and bassist Endea Owens, plus guests. The eleven-track program offered five compositions by Rivera together with versions of pieces by Christian McBride (with whom Rivera has toured periodically), Dease, McCoy Tyner, and Coltrane.

That year Rivera received the Dortha J. and John D. Withrow Teaching Award, the College of Music’s highest distinction for outstanding instruction and scholarly accomplishment.

Indigenous, his second Posi-Tone album, came out in February 2021 and traversed intersecting musical and cultural landscapes. The set incorporated Cannonball Adderley's "Marabi" as a tribute to South African musicians, Álvaro Carrillo's well-known bolero "Sabor a Mi," and Yaakov Rotblit's celebrated Israeli anti-war anthem "Shir LaShalom," along with a varied assortment of post-bop and Latin-inflected originals. Rivera also performed on the Ulysses Owens, Jr. Big Band's first recording, Soul Conversations, that same year.

The saxophonist unveiled Mestizo, his third Posi-Tone effort, in February 2022. Fronting a quartet that featured trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, pianist Art Hirahara, bassist Kozlov, and drummer Rudy Royston, the album presented ten thematically pointed originals, among them "Battle Fatigue," written in April 2021 immediately after the conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd. Beyond his own pieces, Rivera included readings of Wayne Shorter's "Teru" and Kenny Dorham's Afro-Cuban fantasia "Escapade."