Julius Rodriguez, also known as "Orange Julius", is an American pianist, drummer and composer.[1][2][3] In 2021, Rodriguez signed with Verve Records.[4]
Rodriguez grew up in White Plains, New York and is of Haitian descent. He began to study classical piano at an early age. He was exposed to jazz, particularly music by Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane through his father, an avid jazz aficionado. At age twelve, he enrolled in Manhattan School of Music's precollege division and studied there continuously throughout high school. He later studied at The Juilliard School.[1][2][5][6]
Rodriguez’s music integrates elements from jazz, avant-garde, R&B, hip-hop and pop music. He has drawn inspiration from The Bad Plus, Vijay Iyer and Jason Moran to find novel ways of integrating music outside of the jazz canon, including music by The Beatles.[7][3]
Rodriguez has been an active touring member of Isaiah Barr's Onyx Collective, a group which has done collaborative work with a wide range of artists, including Dave Glasser, Ratking, and members of the Wu Tang Clan. The group accompanied A$AP Rocky on a 2018 tour in which Rodriguez performed on both keyboard and guitar.[7][8]
He has worked as a sideman with Keyon Harrold, Ben Williams, Carmen Lundy, James Morrison, Jazzmeia Horn, Dev Hynes, Roy Hargrove, Macy Gray, Wynton Marsalis, Veronica Swift, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Kurt Elling, Nick Hakim, Meshell Ndegeocello and others.[9]
| Album artist | Title | Year | Label | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julius Rodriguez | Evergreen | 2024 | Verve | ||||
| Julius Rodriguez | Let Sound Tell All | 2022 | Verve | ||||
| Julius Rodriguez | Midnight Sun | 2021 | Verve | ||||
| Julius Rodriguez | Actual Proof | 2021 | Verve | ||||
| Julius Rodriguez | Butterfly | 2020 | After School | ||||
| Julius Rodriguez | Blues at the Barn | 2020 | Independent | ||||
| Orange Julius and the Big Beat | Introducing Orange Julius and the Big Beat | 2015 | Independent |
| Album artist | Title | Year | Label | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brasstracks | Before We Go: Live From Capitol Studios | 2020 | Capitol Records | ||||
| Seint Monet | Bloom - EP | 2020 | Independent | ||||
| MATHIS Sound Orchestra | World Unity | 2020 | Mathis Music | ||||
| Jak Lizard | Work from Home - Single | 2020 | Independent | ||||
| JD Walter | Dressed in a Song | 2019 | JWAL Records | ||||
| Marcus Aaron | FreeTape2 | 2019 | GodKids | ||||
| Carmen Lundy | Modern Ancestors | 2019 | Afrasia Productions | ||||
| Brasstracks (feat. Kyle Dion) | Professional | 2019 | Capitol Records | ||||
| Fatherhood | Nervous | 2019 | Deathrocket Records | ||||
| Brasstracks | Before We Go | 2019 | Capitol Records | ||||
| S'natra | We Was Kids | 2019 | Independent | ||||
| Kassa Overall | Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz | 2019 | Independent | ||||
| Madeline Jane | Mother | 2018 | Independent | ||||
| Damien Sneed | The Three Sides of Damien Sneed: Classical, Jazz and Sanctified Soul | 2018 | LeChateau Earl Records | ||||
| Kassa Overall | Drake It Till You Make It | 2018 | Independent | ||||
| Luke Sellick | Christmas | 2017 | Independent | ||||
| Sara Decker Group | Long Distance | 2017 | Independent | ||||
| Morgan Guerin | The Saga II | 2017 | Independent | ||||
| Morgan Guerin | The Saga | 2016 | Independent | ||||
| Mark Bozzuti-Jones | Jazz Out!: Them Irie Psalms | 2014 | Independent |
