Enter the mind of trumpeter, composer, and SFJAZZ Collective member Mike Rodriguez, whose approach to his instrument is based in awareness of the physical process of music making, being open to inspiration, playing off his emotions, and tapping into a state of pure expression.

A GRAMMY-winning trumpeter and composer hailing from Queens, New York, Rodriguez was inspired to pursue music by his father, drummer Roberto Rodriguez, and came up through the music programs at the University of Miami and the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at the New School in Manhattan.

He’s worked alongside Joe Lovano, Quincy Jones, Wynton Marsalis, and Chico O’Farrill, and has had lengthy associations with Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Chick Corea, with whom he won a GRAMMY as part of Corea's Spanish Heart Band.

Rodriguez has recorded four albums with his pianist brother Robert and a pair of releases as a leader including his latest, 2021’s Pathways. He is currently on the faculty at NYU and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.