Randy Napoleon

Randy Napoleon

Randy Napoleon
Background information
Born (1978-05-30) 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.com

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.[1][2] He is Assistant Professor of Jazz Guitar at Michigan State University in the College of Music.[3] He toured with Benny Green, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (CHJO), led by John Clayton, Jeff Clayton and Jeff Hamilton, and with Michael Bublé.[1][4][5]

Early life

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.[6] He studied violin in the Ann Arbor schools before discovering the guitar.[7] He married Alison Rogers Napoleon in 2010 and in 2013 and they had a son, Jack, named after Jack Skurnick.[8] One of Napoleon's formative experiences was in a big band at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School,[9] 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.[6] Napoleon went on to study at the University of Michigan School of Music.[4] He moved to New York City after graduating in 1999 and lived there until he relocated to East Lansing, Michigan, in 2014.

Career

Napoleon is a jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, and teacher. He performs as sideman and leader. He also arranges and produces for his own recordings and for other artists.

He has led an organ trio which has toured the United States and United Kingdom and which did a concert for BBC radio.[4] 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.[4][5] 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. [10][11]

Napoleon tours internationally with singer and pianist Freddy Cole.[1][2] He is the guitarist on Cole's 2009 release, The Dreamer in Me, and performs on and arranged the music for Cole's Grammy-nominated album, Freddy Cole Sings for Mr. B. (2010), and Talk to Me (2011). He has appeared on TV with Cole, on a 2007 PBS special and on the 2009 Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.

Napoleon has also toured with Benny Green(2000–2001), Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, CHJO (2003–2004) and Michael Bublé (2004–2007). He has appeared on TV in Japan with CHJO and throughout Europe and the United States with Bublé. His U.S. TV appearances with Bublé include David Letterman, Jay Leno, The View, The Today Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Regis and Kelly, Dancing with the Stars, the Radio Music Awards, Entertainment Tonight, and a PBS special, Caught in the Act.[4][5][6] He has also appeared on TV with Sachal Vasandani and others.

Napoleon has also performed with jazz artists including the Bill Charlap Trio, Monty Alexander, and Rodney Whitaker.[4] He has appeared with cabaret artists including Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano, and has worked with musicians from his own generation, such as Josh Brown (trombone), Gerald Clayton (piano), Justin Ray (trumpet), Julius Tolentino (saxophone), and vocalists Melissa Morgan and Sachal Vasandani.[4]

Napoleon has played in venues across the United States, including Lincoln Center, The Hollywood Bowl, The Kennedy Center, Radio City Music Hall and throughout the world, such as Royal Albert Hall in London, and the Sydney Opera House in Australia.[1][5]

He is an assistant professor at Michigan State University in the College of Music and performs with the MSU Professors of Jazz.[12] Napoleon was on the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance from 2013-2014, where he taught jazz guitar. He has also taught master classes and clinics at colleges that include Bucknell University, Temple University, Humber College, and Oakland University.[13][14]

Discography

As leader

With Freddy Cole

With Michael Bublé

As guest

Reception

Randy Napoleon with Michael Bublé

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 All About Jazz (2007). "Randy Napoleon Returns to Brooklyn Roots". All About Jazz. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
  2. 1 2 Zan Stewart (2007). "Freddy's way". The New Jersey Star-Ledger. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
  3. http://music.msu.edu/faculty/profile/randy1
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 All About Jazz (2007). "Randy Napoleon". All About Jazz. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
  5. 1 2 3 4 All About Jazz (2006). "Jazz Guitarist Randy Napoleon Unites Top Artists for New Release". All About Jazz. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
  6. 1 2 3 Christian Czerwinski (2006). "Jazz guitarist gets his own backing band". Lansing State Journal. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
  7. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=43118
  8. Roger LeLeivre (2010). "Jazz guitarist Randy Napoleon has plenty to celebrate as he rings in 2011 with Kerrytown shows". AnnArbor.com. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  9. Roger LeLeivre (2013). "Louis Smith Gets a Well Deserved Tribute from Former Students". AnnArbor.com. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  10. https://www.detroitmusicfactory.com/artists/randy-napoleon/
  11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV8TUh0ELCU
  12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97ZgqTyedlA
  13. http://www.oakland.edu/view_news.aspx?sid=34&nid=9251&archived=1/
  14. https://www.bucknell.edu/2011/december/cabaret-jazz-series-resumes-feb-8-with-randy-napoleon-quartet.html/
  15. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ralph-a-miriello/an-interview-with-singerp_b_4252407.html
  16. Reprinted from Philadelphia Weekly on Adler's blog, Leterland
  17. New Jersey Star-Ledger review
  18. Vintage Guitar Magazine, March 2010, page 121.
  19. [Chuck Berg, Topeka Capital-Journal ]
  20. Washington Post review
  21. Washington City Paper review
  22. All About Jazz, scroll down to Freddy Cole review.
  23. Detroit Free Press review
  24. Jazz Improv NY Review Scroll to page 6
  25. Grand Rapids Press review of Freddy Cole Quartet
  26. Pittsburgh Tribune Review on Randy Napoleon Trio
  27. NiteLife Exchange.com
  28. Michael G. Nastos on Randy Napoleon
  29. South East Michigan Jazz Association on Randy Napoleon: Between Friends
  30. All Music on Randy Napoleon: Between Friends
  31. Lansing City Pulse on Randy Napoleon
  32. Márk Linczényi (7 November 2008). "Én nem a testvérem vagyok! Freddy Cole a Millenárison" ["I am not my brother'" Freddy Cole at the Millennium Theatre] (in Hungarian). Retrieved 16 December 2009.
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