Artist: Reuben Rogers

Reuben Renwick Rogers is a jazz bassist from the Virgin Islands

Born November 15, 1974, and raised in the Virgin Islands, Rogers was exposed to varieties of music that included calypso, reggae, gospel and jazz. In his formative years, Rogers received encouragement from his parents to explore his musical talent. He began with the clarinet, experimented with the piano, drums, and guitar, and at the age of 14 found his true passion in the bass.

Under the eye of his high school band teacher, Georgia Francis, Rogers studied jazz with fellow Virgin Islanders Ron Blake and Dion Parson. Rogers received awards, grants, and scholarships from the St. Thomas Arts Council and other local organizations. This opened the door for his summer studies at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan and at Berklee College of Music in Boston. After completing their five-week summer program, Rogers was given a scholarship toward his studies.

Rogers' musical education was punctuated by numerous awards, most notably a scholarship endowed by the Fish Middleton Jazz Society. He earned his Bachelor of Music in 1997 from Berklee.

He began touring professionally at the age of 17 with the Marcus Roberts trio. He has worked with Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman, Nicholas Payton, Mulgrew Miller, Jackie McLean, Charles Lloyd and Dianne Reeves. He has toured extensively throughout the world and has recorded on over seventy albums.

Committed to supporting the arts in the Virgin Islands, Rogers returns when his schedule permits to conduct music workshops in local schools and organize fundraising concerts that benefit the education of today's island youth. His musical endeavors come full circle during performances with Ron Blake and Dion Parson in the Caribbean jazz group 21st Century.

Further information about Reuben Rogers is found at ReubenRogers.com.

This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, Reuben Rogers - Wikipedia, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Photography credit: Author Reuben Rogers, photo by Jimmy Katz, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons