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Reggie Quinerly

Quinerly grew up in a rich musical environment – one that nourished artists as stylistically diverse as pianists Jason Moran and Robert Glasper, drummers Sebastian Whittaker, Chris Dave and Eric Harland and guitarist Mike Moreno . They all attended Houston's High School of the Performing and Visual Arts, where the teachers, said Quinerly, were "incredibly devoted. They gave us a real head start."

After graduating high school he ventured to the East Coast, more specifically, the Mannes School of Music at New School University where he got to study with three great drummers: Jimmy Cobb, Lewis Nash, and Kenny Washington. After sometime honing his chops on the scene he returned to school earning his Master's in Jazz Studies at the prestigious Juilliard School.

Noted as a "conscientious jazz drummer with a nimble and approachable style" (Nate Chinen, New York Times) he has played with such leading artists as Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Joe Lovano, Chico and Von Freeman and Greg Osby. He has also made it a point to collaborate with the next wave of musical leaders such as Tim Warfield, Christian Sands, Orin Evans and Melanie Charles.

In 2017 he fulfilled a life-long goal of returning to higher education, this time as a Juilliard faculty member. In the summer of 2019 he joined the faculty at Hunter College which is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York. As a lecturer he has presented masterclasses at Tulane University(New Orleans), The Cultural Arts Center of Galicia, Spain and since 2012 he has created and implemented music curriculum for several school districts throughout northern New Jersey. These music programs teach children teamwork through the fundamentals of rhythm, melody, harmony and songwriting. As of 2014 the program has been in partnership with the Little Kids Rock program and offers instruction in percussion, guitar, bass, piano and voice. He holds a Supervisors certification and Vice-Principal and Principal certifications in Education. He is a member of Percussive Arts Society and the New Jersey Education Association.

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7
Album Review

Reggie Quinerly: The Thousandth Scholar

Read "The Thousandth Scholar" reviewed by Chris May


The Thousandth Scholar is Los Angeles-based drummer and composer Reggie Quinerly's fifth album, each out on his Redefinition label. Quinerly themes his albums. His debut was Music Inspired By Freedmantown (2012), a tribute to the Houston neighborhood where he was born and raised. It was followed by Invictus (2015), a salute to hard bop, Words In Love (2018), which dealt with vocals, and New York Nowhere (2021), a portrait of life in the city (Quinerly studied at the New School ...

5
Album Review

Reggie Quinerly: New York Nowhere

Read "New York Nowhere" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Born in Houston, drummer Reggie Quinerly attended his hometown's famous High School of the Performing and Visual Arts. He then moved on to study under such masters as Jimmy Cobb, Lewis Nash, and Kenny Washington in the Masters in Jazz Studies program at Juilliard, and released his debut recording, Music Inspired by Freedmantown (Self Produced, 2012) soon after graduating. Quinerly composed New York Nowhere, his fourth release as a leader, as his farewell to the city he called ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

Miles Davis, Rodney Jones & Reggie Quinerly

Read "Miles Davis, Rodney Jones & Reggie Quinerly" reviewed by Joe Dimino


Jazz musicians have resumed gigging in clubs and venues around the world. New York City is leading the way and the crowds are coming in big numbers. In honor of that, we begin the 710th Episode of Neon Jazz with NYC jazz drummer Reggie Quinerly with a track off his latest release New York Nowhere. We keep that spirit of live music alive with a new unearthed 1991 live track from Miles Davis. Also, keeping with the Summer baseball vibe ...

2
Album Review

Reggie Quinerly: Invictus

Read "Invictus" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


Drummer Reggie Quinelry's second release as a leader Invictus is a collection of short, tightly woven and compelling pieces that Quinerly and his quintet interpret with understated fervor and sublime elegance. Quinerly showcases his compositional and leadership skills while shunning the spotlight himself. He allows his sidemen ample room for soloing as he directs the intricacies of the music with superb dexterity. On the delightfully angular “Light Work" for instance vibraphonist Warren Wolf creates intriguing tension within his ...

3
Album Review

Reggie Quinerly: Invictus

Read "Invictus" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Artists who sit at home waiting for success to find them will be sitting at home forever. Success in the modern jazz landscape only comes through a keen understanding and acceptance of the concept of self-determination, a fact which hasn't escaped drummer Reggie Quinerly. Invictus--the second album from the Houston-reared, New Jersey-based drummer--takes its title from a famed poem by William Ernest Henley. Through his words, Henley espoused the idea of creating and controlling one's own destiny; ...

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2

Recording

Drummer-composer Reggie Quinerly Explores The Possibilities Of Afro-Latin Jazz With The January 19 Release Of 'The Thousandth Scholar' On Redefinition Music

Drummer-composer Reggie Quinerly Explores The Possibilities Of Afro-Latin Jazz With The January 19 Release Of 'The Thousandth Scholar' On Redefinition Music

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

The rich straight-ahead jazz of Reggie Quinerly gets an Afro-Caribbean spin with The Thousandth Scholar, to be released January 19on hisown Redefinition Music. Quinerly’s fifth album finds the drummer/composer seasoning his musical recipes with what Jelly Roll Morton called “the Spanish tinge,” a sometimes-subtle Latin flavor that he achieves without sacrificing his distinctive soulful sound—and with the help of an ace quartet including pianist Manuel Valera, bassist Matt Brewer, and percussionist Samuel Torres. The form of the quartet, featuring both ...

1

Recording

Drummer-Composer Reggie Quinerly Examines His Relationship With The City That Never Sleeps On 'New York Nowhere,' Set For March 12 Release

Drummer-Composer Reggie Quinerly Examines His Relationship With The City That Never Sleeps On 'New York Nowhere,' Set For March 12 Release

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Drummer-composer Reggie Quinerly tempers his ever-soulful post-bop jazz concept with a sense of rumination with the March 12 release of New York Nowhere on his own Redefinition Records. The album, Quinerly’s fourth, finds him bidding farewell to the jazz capital of the world, which he called home from 1999 to 2020. Joining him for his send-off is a quintet of the Big Apple’s finest, including trumpeter Antoine Drye, tenor saxophonist John Ellis, pianist John Chin, and bassist Sean Conly. A ...

3

Recording

Drummer/Composer Reggie Quinerly Reveals A New Aspect Of His Musicianship With The April 20 Release Of "Words To Love"

Drummer/Composer Reggie Quinerly Reveals A New Aspect Of His Musicianship With The April 20 Release Of "Words To Love"

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Hailed by DownBeat as the embodiment of “style, substance, soul, and swagger,” Reggie Quinerly is just the kind of drummer to take on a first-time challenge—like writing an album’s worth of songs featuring vocalists. “As a drummer, I’m always trying to write things you wouldn’t expect,” says Quinerly. On Words to Love, his third album as a leader which is set for April 20 release by Redefinition Music, Quinerly composed music and lyrics for eight songs exploring the many facets ...

2

Recording

Drummer Reggie Quinerly's "Invictus" To Be Released March 17 By Redefinition Music

Drummer Reggie Quinerly's "Invictus" To Be Released March 17 By Redefinition Music

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Drummer/composer Reggie Quinerly made an indelible impression on the jazz world with his 2012 debut recording, Music Inspired by Freedmantown, a soulful and serious-minded tribute to the historic African-American neighborhood in Houston where he grew up. For his second CD, Invictus, which will be released by the drummer’s Redefinition Music label on March 17, Quinerly takes inspiration—and the CD’s title—from the 1875 poem by William Ernest Henley (“I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of ...

1

Recording

"Music Inspired By Freedmantown," Debut CD By Drummer/Composer Reggie Quinerly, To Be Released Sept. 18

"Music Inspired By Freedmantown," Debut CD By Drummer/Composer Reggie Quinerly, To Be Released Sept. 18

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

On his forthcoming debut CD, jazz drummer/composer Reggie Quinerly taps a rich vein of cultural history from his native Houston to produce an ambitious, soulful, and uniquely resonant work—Music Inspired by Freedmantown. The disc will be released September 18 by Quinerly’s Redefinition Music label. Although Quinerly attended grammar school in the heart of the historic African-American district once known as Freedmantown (now the Fourth Ward), he knew little of the significance of the area. But a melody he composed while ...

“A drummer of swinging disposition...” —NATE CHINEN, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Thousandth Scholar

Redefinition Music
2024

buy

Black, Brown, and Blue

Smoke Sessions Records
2023

buy

New York Nowhere

Redefinition Music
2021

buy

Words to Love

Redefinition Music
2018

buy

Invictus

Self Produced
2015

buy

Peace

From: Black, Brown, and Blue
By Reggie Quinerly

Freedmantown

From: Music Inspired by Freedmantown
By Reggie Quinerly

Videos

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