Diego Rivera

Born: November 28, 1977

A world-class musician, composer, arranger and educator, Diego Rivera has entertained audiences for over 20 years. Rivera is known for his muscular tone and unique blend of straight-ahead jazz fused with music inspired by his Latino background and heritage. He is a tenured Associate Professor of Jazz Saxophone at Michigan State University where he also serves as Associate Director of Jazz Studies. 

Rivera was born in Ann Arbor, MI and raised ‘just up the road’ in East Lansing, MI. Born into a Mexican-American family, his Chicano heritage has always been important to him and shaped his creative endeavors. His parents named him after the famed muralist, Diego Rivera. A trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts at a young age inspired him to make his own mark with the Saxophone rather than the brush. He attended Michigan State University where he studied with Andrew Speight, Branford Marsalis, Ron Blake and Rodney Whitaker. 

In Jazz We Trust

By Posi-Tone Swingtet

Label: Posi-Tone Records
Released: 2025
Track listing: Invocation; Free Time; Mal's Totem; Mirror; Simmer; Stepped Out; Don't Look Behind You; Le Rendez-vous Final; Changing Trains.

West Circle

By Diego Rivera

Label: Posi-Tone Records
Released: 2025
Track listing: West Circle; The Maze; Ebb And Flow; Both-Siding; Frida; Cumbia; Fungque; Debatable; Just Before Silence; Mr. Styx.

Peace Unknown

By Art Hirahara

Label: Posi-Tone Records
Released: 2025
Track listing: Peace Unknown; Anonima; Irons In The Fire; The More Things Change; Drawing With Light; Brooklyn Express; The Looking Glass; Father's Song; Two Cubes.

In The Beginning

By Something Blue

Label: Posi-Tone Records
Released: 2025
Track listing: Trapdoor; Undercurrents; Dream For Donte; Sun Sound; This One's For You; Like Miles; Portrait Of Harlem; Lockout; Sea Of Sand.

Still We Dream

By Josh Lawrence

Label: Posi-Tone Records
Released: 2025
Track listing: Long As You're Livng; Still We Dream; Op. 29: Impromptu No. 1; Boo Boo's Birthday; Pure Imagination; Evidence; Kradoudja; Light Blue; Op. 36: Impromptu No. 2; Trinkle, Tinkle; Op. 35: Funeral March From Piano Sonata No. 2; America.

Force & Grace

By Diego Rivera

Label: Posi-Tone Records
Released: 2025
Track listing: Crisis; First Light; Latina; Brigitte; On The Que-Tee; Little Sunflower; Gibraltar; D Minor Mint; Sky Dive; Happy Times; Lament For Booker; Soul Surge.

Art Hirahara: Peace Unknown

by Kyle Simpler
July 18, 2025

Art Hirahara is one of the most in-demand pianists in contemporary jazz, appearing on countless recordings while steadily building an impressive solo career. WithPeace Unknown, he continues his prolific partnership with Posi-Tone Records, with a deeply personal and expansive set that brings new life to earlier compositions while introducing bold new material. Framed within a robust ...

Something Blue: In The Beginning

by Michael Ambrosino
July 11, 2025

Jazz is powered by many things. Perhaps most notably, the expansive variety of independent record labels representing some of the more inspiring aspirations of the idiom. Reflecting the grit, passion and often sheer audacity to exist within an industry that makes little room for jazz, independent labels have established an expanse of music that exemplifies the ...

Benny Benack III, Brandee Younger, Something Blue, Robert Glasper and more

by Benjamin Boddie
July 9, 2025

Today's Music--Right Now! Fantastic music by Benny Benack III, Brandee Younger, Mike Clark & Mike Zilber, Ola Onabule/Nicolas Meier, Something Blue, Diego Rivera, Robert Glasper, Tessa Souter, Michael Dease, Clifford Jordan, Cyrus Chestnut, Mark Masters Ensemble, John Clayton, Hot Toddies Jazz Band, Planet D Nonet, Behn Gillece, Bobby West, NYO Jazz, Pete McGuinness, Rob Clearfield, Tyreek ...