Rudy Royston

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised in Denver, Colorado, Royston has been a professional teacher, drummer and percussionist for almost twenty years. He studied classical percussion at University of Denver where earned undergraduate degrees in Music and English, and accomplished teacher certification credentials from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Rudy grew up playing drums in church, and found his voice under the auspices of Colorado’s celebrated trumpeter Ron Miles, whom Royston deems his greatest influence, and with whom Rudy has played since 1991. He has taught, recorded and performed all styles of music from Jazz to marching percussion. Since moving to Piscataway, New Jersey in 2006, Royston has completed a Masters in Music degree from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and performed with many of today’s finest Jazz musicians including Bill Frisell, Les McCann, David Gilmore, Ben Allison, Jason Moran, JD Allen, Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Bowen, Stanley Cowell, Tom Harrell, John Ellis, Jenny Scheinmenn and The Mingus Big Band, to name a few.His albums as a leader include:303, released in 2014, featured a unique ensemble of stellar New York musicians performing his engaging compositions. Rise of Orion, from 2016, features a chordless trio with saxophonist Jon Irabagon and bassist Yasushi Nakamura. Flatbed Buggy (2018) is an album featuring a chamber-like quintet performing twelve original Royston compositions.