Randy Napoleon
| Randy Napoleon | |
|---|---|
Randy Napoleon
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| Background information | |
| Born |
May 30, 1978 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Labels | Azica, Gut String, Harbinger, Detroit Music Factory |
| Associated acts | Freddy Cole Quartet, Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Michael Bublé, Benny Green |
| Website | randynapoleon |
Randy Napoleon (born 30 May 1978) is an American jazz guitarist, composer, and arranger who is a member of the Freddy Cole Quartet and the leader of a sextet, a quartet and a trio. He is Assistant Professor of Jazz Guitar at Michigan State University in the College of Music. He toured with Benny Green, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (CHJO), led by John Clayton, Jeff Clayton and Jeff Hamilton, and with Michael Bublé.
Napoleon was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 30, 1978. He is the son of Greg and Davi Napoleon and the grandson of Jack Skurnick and Fay Kleinman. He has one younger brother, Brian Napoleon. His family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when he was young. He studied violin in the Ann Arbor schools before discovering the guitar. He married Alison Rogers Napoleon in 2010 and in 2013 and they had a son, Jack, named after Jack Skurnick. One of Napoleon's formative experiences was in a big band at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School, led by trumpeter Louis Smith. He also played at the jazz clubs in Ann Arbor and learned from jam sessions at the now defunct Bird of Paradise Club, where he also heard master jazz artists. Early opportunities at the Del Rio, a local bar, and at events sponsored by WEMU, a local NPR jazz radio station, helped launch his career. Napoleon went on to study at the University of Michigan School of Music. He moved to New York City after graduating in 1999 and lived there until he relocated to East Lansing, Michigan, in 2014.
He has led an organ trio which has toured the United States and United Kingdom and which did a concert for BBC radio. The trio rio appears on Enjoy the Moment and Randy Napoleon: Between Friends, both featuring organist Jared Gold and drummer Quincy Davis. Between Friends, a 2006 release from Azica Records, features the trio on half the tracks and a quartet on the other, with Davis, bassist David Wong, and Benny Green on piano. The Randy Napoleon three-horn sextet appears on his 2012 release The Jukebox Crowd. A trio with Rodney Whitaker on bass and Gregory Hutchinson on drums appears on his album for the Detroit Music Factory, Soon.
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