Randy Napoleon (born 30 May 1978) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

guitarist, composer, and arranger who tours nationally and internationally. He has also toured with the

Freddy Cole Lionel Frederick Cole (October 15, 1931 – June 27, 2020) was an American jazz singer and pianist whose recording career spanned almost 70 years. He was the brother of musicians Nat King Cole, Eddie Cole, and Ike Cole, father of Lionel Cole, ...

Quartet, Benny Green (pianist), the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra led by John Clayton, Jeff Clayton, and Jeff Hamilton, Rene Marie, and with

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songboo ...

. He is an associate professor in the College of Music at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It ...

and has done master classes at universities and music schools throughout the United States and Canada.

Early life

Napoleon was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, on May 30, 1978. He is the son of Greg Napoleon, a software engineer, and Davi Napoleon, a theater historian and arts journalist, and the grandson of Jack Skurnick, a musicologist and founder of

EMS Recordings EMS Recordings was founded in 1949 by Jack Skurnick in New York City. The company won first prize at the Audio Fair of 1950 for the high quality and interest of its recordings. It issued the first recording of works of Edgard Varese. Skurnick's par ...

, and Fay Kleinman, a painter. He has one younger brother, Brian Napoleon. His family moved to

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

, Michigan, when he was two years old. He studied violin in the Ann Arbor schools before discovering the guitar. One of Napoleon's formative experiences was in a big band at

Ann Arbor Pioneer High School Pioneer High School is a public school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1856, the school was previously called the Union School and Ann Arbor High School. In 2010, Pioneer was listed as a "Silver Medal School" by the '' U.S. News & World Re ...

, led by trumpeter Louis Smith. Napoleon also played at the jazz clubs in Ann Arbor and learned from jam sessions at the Bird of Paradise Club. Early opportunities at the Del Rio, a local bar, and at events sponsored by WEMU, a local NPR jazz radio station, helped start his career. When he was in high school, the Ann Arbor News covered his developing talent. Napoleon studied at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

School of Music.

Later life and career

Napoleon has led an organ trio which has toured the United States and United Kingdom and which did a concert for BBC radio. The trio appears on ''

Enjoy the Moment ''Enjoy the Moment'' is a 2002 album, a collaboration of guitarist Randy Napoleon and organist Jared Gold Jared is a given name of Biblical derivation. Origin In the Book of Genesis, the biblical patriarch Jared (יֶרֶד) was the sixth in ...

'' and '' Randy Napoleon: Between Friends'', both featuring Jared Gold (organist) 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 album ''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''. Napoleon has performed and arranged on all of Freddy Cole's albums since 2009. He has appeared on TV with Cole, on a 2007 PBS special, and on the 2009 Jerry Lewis ''Muscular Dystrophy Telethon''. Napoleon has appeared on Grammy-nominated albums, including ''Michael Buble: Caught in the Act,'' ''Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B,'' and ''Freddy Cole: My Mood is You.'' He arranged music for the two Cole albums. Napoleon has also toured with Benny Green (2000–2001), Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (2003–2004), and

(2004–2007). He has appeared on TV in Japan with CHJO and throughout Europe, Asia and America with Bublé. His U.S. TV appearances with Bublé include

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's '' The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 20 ...

, '' The View'', ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

'', ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...

'', ''

Regis and Kelly ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts since ...

'', ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

'', the

Radio Music Awards The Radio Music Awards was an annual U.S. award show that honored the year's most successful songs on mainstream radio. Nominations were based on the amount of airplay recording artists receive on radio stations in various formats using chart inform ...

, ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American first-run syndicated news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Paramount Streaming. ET also airs in Aus ...

'', and a PBS special, ''Caught in the Act''. Napoleon has performed with

Monty Alexander Montgomery Bernard "Monty" Alexander (born 6 June 1944) is a Jamaican jazz pianist. His playing has a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop jazz and blues rooted melodies. He was influenced by Louis ...

Bill Charlap William Morrison Charlap (born October 15, 1966, pronounced "Shar-Lap") is an American jazz pianist. In 2016, '' The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern'', an album produced by Charlap and Tony Bennett, won the award for Best Traditional Pop ...

, Michael Dease, Rene Marie, and Rodney Whitaker. He has appeared with cabaret performers Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano.Ahlfors, Elizabeth (April 2011
''Cabaret Scenes''
/ref> Napoleon has performed at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...

The Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for ...

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

in London, and the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

in Australia. Napoleon moved to New York City after graduating from the University of Michigan in 1999. He returned to Michigan to teach at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance from 2013 to 2014. In the fall of 2014, he accepted an appointment to Michigan State University's College of Music where he is currently a tenured associate professor of jazz. There, he performs with the MSU Professors of jazz, teaches jazz guitar, and leads a student octet. He has taught master classes and clinics at many colleges including Bucknell University, Temple University, Humber College, and Oakland University. He married Alison Rogers Napoleon in 2010. They have two children, Jack Lawrence (2013) and Juliet Claire (2017). Jack is named for Jack Skurnick, Napoleon's maternal grandfather.

Discography

As leader

* ''

'' co-leader with Jared Gold (PKO, 2002) * '' Between Friends'' (Azica, 2006) * ''Bitter/Sweet'' co-leader with Eric Comstock (Harbindger, 2010) * ''The Jukebox Crowd'' (Gut String, 2011) * ''Soon'' (Detroit Music Factory, 2016) * ''Common Tones'' (Detroit Music Factory, 2019) * ''Rust Belt Roots: Randy Napoleon Plays

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

Grant Green Grant Green (June 6, 1935 – January 31, 1979) was an American jazz guitarist and composer. Recording prolifically for Blue Note Records as both leader and sideman, Green performed in the hard bop, soul jazz, bebop, and Latin-tinged idioms ...

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...

'' (OA2 Records, 2021) * ''Puppets: The Music of Gregg Hill'' (OA2 Records, 2022) The Freddy Cole Quartet with Curtis Boyd drums, Elias Bailey bass, and Randy Napoleon guitar

As sideman

With

, guitarist and arranger * ''Era Jazzu'' (2007) * ''The Dreamer in Me'' (HighNote, 2009) * ''Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B'' (HighNote, 2010) * ''Talk to Me'' (HighNote, 2011) * ''This and That'' (HighNote, 2013) * ''Singing the Blues'' (HighNote, 2014) * ''He Was The King'' (HighNote, 2016) * ''A Freddy Cole Christmas (HighNote, 2018; digital only) * ''My Mood Is You'' (HighNote, 2018) With others, guitarist Selected from over 85 albums NapoleonBuble

* Michael Buble, ''Caught in the Act'' (Reprise, 2005) * Michael Buble, ''With Love'' (Reprise, 2006) * Michael Buble, ''Let It Snow!'' (Reprise, 2007) * Michael Buble, ''A Taste of Bublé'' (Reprise, 2008) * Etienne Charles, ''Creole Christmas'' (Culture Shock Music ,2015) *

The Clayton–Hamilton Jazz Orchestra The Clayton–Hamilton Jazz Orchestra is a big band led by Jeff Hamilton and brothers John Clayton and Jeff Clayton. The band was founded in Los Angeles in 1985. Personnel On the album ''The L. A. Treasures Project'' (Capri, 2014): * John ...

, ''Live at MCG'' (MCG, 2005) * Michael Dease, ''All These Hands'' (Posi-Tone, 2016) * Michael Dease, ''Give it All You Got'' (Posi-Tone, 2021) * Hilary Gardner, ''The Great City'' (Anzic, 2014) * Jared Gold, ''Solids & Stripes'' (Posi-Tone, 2008) *

Melissa Morgan Melissa Morgan (born 1980) is an American jazz singer. Music career Morgan was born in New York City, and grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, where she attended Teaneck High School. She began studying piano at age four. During high school she b ...

, ''Until I Met You'' (Telarc, 2009) * Rodney Whitaker, ''Outrospection: The Music of Gregg Hill'' (Origin, 2021) * Libby York, ''Dreamland'' (Origin, 2023)

Early life

Later life and career

Discography

As leader

As sideman

References

External links