Grammy Award-winning trumpeter/composer Michael Rodriguez was born on July 14, 1979, in Queens, New York. Michael was inspired to pursue music as a career by his father, Roberto Rodriguez, who is a drummer. Michael studied at the New World school of the Arts in Miami, Florida, and continued his studies at the University of Miami. After completing two years at the University of Miami, he decided to transfer to the New School University in New York where he received his BA. Michael has performed and toured with Clark Terry, Bobby Watson, Quincy Jones, Joe Lovano, Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra, pop icon Jessica Simpson, Chico O’Farill Orchestra, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, Jon Faddis and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Carla Bley Band and Quintet, The Clayton Brothers, Kenny Barron’s Quintet, Conrad Herwig Latin Side Projects, Clayton Brothers Quintet, Harry Connick Jr., Bob Mintzer, Yosvany Terry Quintet, Eddie Palmieri Septet, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra, among others. In December of 2003, Michael recorded on Charlie Haden’s Grammy Award-winning album featuring Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Joe Lovano entitled Land of the Sun. Michael has also recorded on two of Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra’s albums entitled Not in Our Name and Time/Life. In 2019, Michael joined Chick Corea’s Spanish Heart Band and won a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2020.
Michael and his brother, pianist Robert Rodriguez, have recorded four albums together: Introducing the Rodriguez Brothers, Conversations, Mood Swing, and Impromptu, which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2015. In 2013, he released his debut album entitled Reverence for the Criss Cross Label and released his second album in May 2021, under the RodBrosMusic Label, entitled Pathways.
Michael is currently on the faculty at NYU Steinhardt and SFCM as an adjunct professor of trumpet and travels the globe as a clinician.