Julius Rodriguez

Julius Rodriguez fuses jazz-honed technique with deep affinities for R&B, gospel, and hip-hop as a pianist and multi-instrumentalist. Early notice arrived through road work alongside A$AP Rocky plus studio contributions to projects by Kassa Overall, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Brasstracks. His first album under his own name, Let Sound Tell All, appeared on Verve Records in 2022, followed by the sophomore release Evergreen in 2024.

Rodriguez entered the world in 1998 and was raised in White Plains, New York, within a family of Haitian descent. Piano study began at age three after his father introduced recordings by John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, and Duke Ellington. Additional formative experience came at church, where he performed on drums, keyboards, and organ. During his teenage years he sharpened his abilities through the precollege division at the Manhattan School of Music, summer sessions at Berklee College of Music, and programs with the YoungArts Foundation. Post-graduation he attended The Juilliard School for piano instruction under Jeremy Manasia and, while still enrolled, performed alongside Roy Hargrove and Wynton Marsalis. His listening expanded to encompass Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, and Solange, while he also collaborated with various singer-songwriters and joined Isaiah Barr’s experimental Onyx Collective.

An encounter during a performance with Barr led A$AP Rocky to recruit him; in 2018 Rodriguez departed Juilliard to join the rapper’s touring band. Subsequent engagements included work with Meshell Ndegeocello, Brasstracks, Carmen Lundy, Kassa Overall, and Keyon Harrold. These accumulated experiences informed the stylistically wide-ranging Let Sound Tell All, released in 2022 on Verve Records.

After further studio and concert appearances on recordings by Meshell Ndegeocello, Joe Farnsworth, and Cautious Clay, Rodriguez delivered his second solo album, Evergreen, in 2024, which included contributions from Keyon Harrold, Nate Mercereau, and Georgia Anne Muldrow.