Julius Rodriguez | Evergreen

You can find Julius Rodriguez in many places. You could walk into a packed jazz haunt and bear witness to him behind the piano with energy practically surging from his fingers through the room. You might scroll up on social media and catch him alternating from drums to bass to guitar at the speed of a jump cut. You may also step onto festival grounds and see him on stage either solo or accompanying another likeminded visionary, jamming like his life depends on it. No matter where, the New York-born and Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer electrifies any lane. By doing so, he also transcends perceived boundaries between genres and styles, redefining the music to mirror his own fluid creative inclinations and delivering a sound that’s solely his alone.

Following widespread applause from The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The FADER, and more, collaborations with everyone from Wynton Marsalis to A$AP Rocky, and tens of millions of streams, he grows in as many directions as possible on his second full-length offering, EVERGREEN [Verve Records].

“I kept seeing the word EVERGREEN everywhere,” he recalls. “I looked up the definition, and it struck me. An ‘EVERGREEN’ is a plant whose foliage remains functional for all seasons. That’s similar to how I like to be; I want to be myself no matter the genre I’m playing or what’s going on around me. There are a lot of styles on this record, but it’s recognizably my voice.”

He's honed that voice since his childhood in New York where he participated in his first late-night downtown jam session at barely eleven-years-old. Sharpening his skills with thousands of hours and hundreds of gigs, he established himself as a highly sought-after collaborator—whether on piano, drums, synths, or bass. You could hear him loud and clear on recordings by the likes of Carmen Lundy, Lackecia Benjamin, Brasstracks, Kassa Overall, Baby Rose, Joe Farnsworth, Cautious Clay, Ian Isiah, and Braxton Cook. Moreover, he has shined on stage with the late Roy Hargrove, Remi Wolf, Dev Hynes, Lauren Spencer-Smith, Macy Gray, Kurt Elling, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Morgan James, and Cautious Clay, to name a few. He even lent his talents to Meshell Ndegeocello’s The Omnichord Real Book—which garnered the first-ever GRAMMY® Award in the category of “Best Alternative Jazz Album.” 

Julius’s signature style came to life on his solo debut, Let Sound Tell All. NPR hailed the latter as “a project so dynamic that even the umbrella of jazz couldn’t quite contain its essence,” and GRAMMY.com noted, “Rodriguez is demonstrating a lively, inspired talent within the genre’s convention while also infusing his own personal musical identity and history into the music.” Not to mention, he made his debut at North See Jazz festival in 2023, charging up the crowd.

As life changed, his music evolved. Spending the bulk of his life in New York, he relocated to Los Angeles during 2022. At this point, he had toured and performed around the globe. Moving away from home and seeing the world exerted a profound impact upon him. He notes, “You don’t understand how different these moments are until you experience them head-on.”

At the top of 2024, he entered a studio in North Hollywood, CA with producer Tim Anderson [Solange, Halsey, Billie Eilish]. They unlocked a distinct chemistry, bonding over the catalog of Herbie Hancock and seventies fusion titans Mahavishnu Orchestra.

“Tim has an appreciation for jazz and the culture, so he understood where I was coming from musically,” Julius goes on. “From there, he brought in other elements. I love what he’s done with artists outside of the tradition I come from like Solange and Banks, and he introduced me to the ambient music world.”

Fittingly, Julius introduces the album with the opener and single “Mission Statement.” Steady handclaps set the track in motion as a spacey loop swims around a slick bass line. Cymbals chatter through vibrant piano, and a saxophone solo sails off towards the horizon.

“‘Mission Statement’ was one of those ideas that initially came to me in the Pandemic,” he recalls. “I was figuring out how to incorporate sounds from hyperpop, drum ‘n’ bass, and other styles that I dig, but I don’t get a chance to play. In terms of the name, I’m not just trying be the jazz musician that everyone knew me as. My vision was to create a different sound that’s unique to my influence. My mission is to break out of what people know and expect of me and just do what I like.”

“Love Everlasting” sees him team up with longtime friend and fellow dynamo Keyon Harold. A dreamy keyboard melody gently echoes as Keyon’s unmistakable trumpet booms in fits of emotion over robust drums and shimmering piano.

“I’ve known Keyon since college,” he goes on. “He was the first person to take me on tour in Europe, and I’d always wanted to work with him on my own material. I invited him to the studio, and he played trumpet and harmonized with himself. Thematically, it felt like a cycle of what I assumed to be a friendship. In a strong friendship, no matter what happens, you’ll always understand the love you and the other person have for each other.”

Then, there’s “Run To It (The CP Song).” It hinges on a boisterous back-and-forth between the bass, beats, guitar, and piano—akin to a vivacious Sunday on stage in a Southern church. “There’s a camaraderie to the melody,” he smiles. “It’s bound to make for a good time.”

On the other end of the spectrum, he injects a “jazz waltz vibe” into his reimagining of Dijon’s “Many Times.” The epic “Stars Talk” unites him with Nate Mercereau whose synths and freestyled guitar samples amplify an exhale of sonic bliss. “It takes you on a bit of a journey,” he notes. “Nate brought it to another level.”

The album crescendos to a triumphant inflection point on the closer “Champion’s Call” [feat. Georgia Anne Muldrow]. A signature piano line from Julius brims with energy as Georgia’s deep wail resounds with earthquaking intensity in a mantra-like motion, “Champions call.”

“I played some shows with Georgia, and I asked, ‘What are we going to play?’,” he remembers. “She replied, ‘I don’t do setlists; we go on stage and just trust God’. She’s big on letting her spirit flow through her from a higher power. That’s exactly what she did on ‘Champion’s Call’. It was pretty magical.”

By breaking boundaries with EVERGREEN, Julius has lived up to the true spirit of jazz by ushering it towards the future freely.

“I hope you hear this and forget about the whole genre labeling thing,” he leaves off. “This is just music you can dance to, feel to, and think to. It’s not about categorizing; it’s about enjoying something for what it is. EVERGREEN goes through a whole bunch of genres, but this is the world I’m seeing and hearing. This is the feeling I’m invoking. I made a statement and said, ‘The genre is just me’.”