He is an associate professor and Associate Director of Jazz Studies in the College of Music at Michigan State University[5] and has done master classes at universities and music schools throughout the United States and Canada.[6] During a 2023 tour of Japan, he taught at several colleges throughout the country. During summers, he is on the faculty of the Brevard Music Center's Jazz Institute. [7]
Early life
Napoleon was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 30, 1978. He is the son of Greg Napoleon, a software engineer, and Davi Napoleon, a theater historian and arts journalist, and the grandson of Jack Skurnick, a musicologist and founder of EMS Recordings, and Fay Kleinman, a painter. He has one younger brother, Brian Napoleon. His family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when he was two years old.[8] He studied violin in the Ann Arbor schools before discovering the guitar.[9]
One of Napoleon's formative experiences was in a big band at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School,[10] led by trumpeter Louis Smith. Napoleon also played at the jazz clubs in Ann Arbor and learned from jam sessions at the Bird of Paradise Club. Early opportunities at the Del Rio, a local bar, and at events sponsored by WEMU, a local NPR jazz radio station, helped start his career.[8] When he was in high school, the Ann Arbor News covered his developing talent.[11] Napoleon studied at the University of Michigan School of Music.[1]
Later life and career
The Michigan State University Professors of Jazz, Diego Rivera, Randy Napoleon, Michael Dease, Xavier Davis, Etienne Charles, Rodney Whitaker, Randy Gelispie
Napoleon has led an organ trio which has toured the United States and United Kingdom and which did a concert for BBC radio. The trio appears on Enjoy the Moment and Randy Napoleon: Between Friends, both featuring Jared Gold (organist) and drummer Quincy Davis. Between Friends, a 2006 release from Azica Records, features the trio on half the tracks and a quartet on the other, with Davis, bassist David Wong, and Benny Green on piano.[1][2] The Randy Napoleon three-horn sextet appears on his 2012 album The Jukebox Crowd. A trio with Rodney Whitaker on bass and Gregory Hutchinson on drums appears on his album for the Detroit Music Factory, Soon.[12]
Napoleon has performed and arranged on all of Freddy Cole's albums since 2009. He has appeared on TV with Cole, on a 2007 PBS special, and on the 2009 Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. Napoleon has appeared on Grammy-nominated albums, including Michael Buble: Caught in the Act,Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B, and Freddy Cole: My Mood is You. He arranged music for the two Cole albums.
Napoleon moved to New York City after graduating from the University of Michigan in 1999. He returned to Michigan to teach at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance from 2013 to 2014. In the fall of 2014, he accepted an appointment to Michigan State University's College of Music where he is currently a tenured associate professor of jazz. There, he performs with the MSU Professors of jazz, teaches jazz guitar, and leads a student octet. He has taught master classes and clinics at many colleges including Bucknell University, Temple University, Humber College, and Oakland University.[14]
He married Alison Rogers Napoleon in 2010. They have two children, Jack Lawrence (2013) and Juliet Claire (2017). Jack is named for Jack Skurnick, Napoleon's maternal grandfather.
