Beyond the Bandstand with Riley Mulherkar (Episode 72)
Riley Mulherkar has been recognized as a \u201csmart young trumpet player\u201d by The New York Times, praised by The Wall Street Journal as a \u201cyoungster to keep an eye on,\u201d and is a 2020 recipient of Lincoln Center\u2019s Emerging Artist Award for his work as \u201can original bandleader, composer, arranger, educator, community activist and advocate for jazz and the arts.\u201d Riley works with a number of leading artists of our time, including Wynton Marsalis, Anna Deavere Smith, and Alan Cumming, and is a founding member of The Westerlies, a new music brass quartet that creates the rarest of hybrids: music that is both \u201cfolk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous\u201d (NPR Music). Riley also serves as Artistic Director for Jazz at Joye in Aiken, bringing leading young talent to the historic city of Aiken, South Carolina. Born and raised in Seattle, Riley moved to New York in 2010 to study at The Juilliard School, where he completed his Bachelor\u2019s Degree in 2014 and his Master\u2019s in 2015. In 2014, he was the first recipient of the Laurie Frink Career Grant at the Festival of New Trumpet Music. Riley is actively engaged in educational initiatives, directing the Summer Advanced Institute at Seattle JazzEd, serving as an ambassador for Jazz at Lincoln Center\u2019s \u201cJazz for Young People\u201d program in New York and St. Louis from 2016 \u2013 2018, and serving as a judge for the Essentially Ellington festival and competition in 2020. Riley is an Edwards Artist and performs on Edwards trumpets.