Julius Rodriguez

“While the New York-bred and Los Angeles-based pianist and multi-instrumentalist has been regarded as a young master in the jazz world, his sophomore album, Evergreen, expands his sound beyond any simple categorization.” – Ashley Pointer, NPR Tiny Desk Concert

You can find Julius Rodriguez in many places. You could walk into a packed jazz haunt and bear witness to him behind the piano with energy practically surging from his fingers through the room. You might scroll up on social media and catch him alternating from drums to bass to guitar at the speed of a jump cut. You may also step onto festival grounds and see him on stage either solo or accompanying another likeminded visionary, jamming like his life depends on it. No matter where, the New York-born and Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer electrifies any lane. By doing so, he also transcends perceived boundaries between genres and styles, redefining the music to mirror his own fluid creative inclinations and delivering a sound that’s solely his alone.

Following widespread applause from The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The FADER, and more, collaborations with everyone from Wynton Marsalis to A$AP Rocky, and tens of millions of streams, he grows in as many directions as possible on his second full-length offering, EVERGREEN [Verve Records].

“I kept seeing the word EVERGREEN everywhere,” he recalls. “I looked up the definition, and it struck me. An ‘EVERGREEN’ is a plant whose foliage remains functional for all seasons. That’s similar to how I like to be; I want to be myself no matter the genre I’m playing or what’s going on around me. There are a lot of styles on this record, but it’s recognizably my voice.”

He’s honed that voice since his childhood in New York where he participated in his first late-night downtown jam session at barely eleven-years-old. Sharpening his skills with thousands of hours and hundreds of gigs, he established himself as a highly sought-after collaborator — whether on piano, drums, synths, or bass. You could hear him loud and clear on recordings by the likes of Carmen Lundy, Lackecia Benjamin, Brasstracks, Kassa Overall, Baby Rose, Joe Farnsworth, Cautious Clay, Ian Isiah, and Braxton Cook. Moreover, he has shined on stage with the late Roy Hargrove, Remi Wolf, Dev Hynes, Lauren Spencer-Smith, Macy Gray, Kurt Elling, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Morgan James, and Cautious Clay, to name a few. He even lent his talents to Meshell Ndegeocello’s The Omnichord Real Book — which garnered the first-ever GRAMMY Award in the category of “Best Alternative Jazz Album.“

By breaking boundaries with EVERGREEN, Julius has lived up to the true spirit of jazz by ushering it towards the future freely.

“This is just music you can dance to, feel to, and think to. It’s not about categorizing; it’s about enjoying something for what it is. EVERGREEN goes through a whole bunch of genres, but this is the world I’m seeing and hearing. This is the feeling I’m invoking. I made a statement and said, ‘The genre is just me.’”