Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera is a world-class tenor and soprano saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator. He teaches in and serves as Associate Director of Jazz Studies at Michigan State University. Rivera possesses a direct, robust tone that recalls the emotive "tough tenor" era of Johnny Griffin and Gene "Jug" Ammons; one can also hear the tonal influences of Ben Webster and the modal approach of John Coltrane in his soprano playing. Though he leads and performs with his own quartet, he is a member of Rodney Whitaker's quartet, Detroit's Gathering Orchestra, and Jazz Orchestra @ Dr. Phillips. He released Hercules, his leader debut in 2006 but touring, studio and educational work kept him from recording regularly until 2013's The Contender which went to number ten at Jazz Radio. After another long break and working with others, he signed to Posi-Tone for 2019's Connections. Indigenous followed in 2021, and Mestizo in 2022.