Biography
Jeff Rupert is a Trustee Chair, Pegasus Professor, and Director of Jazz Studies at UCF. Rupert is a saxophonist, composer, record producer, and recording artist. He has been a featured soloist on dozens of recordings with artists including Sam Rivers, Mel Tormé, Diane Schuur, Benny Carter and Maynard Ferguson. Rupert released The Ripple with legendary saxophonist George Garzone released in 2019. He performed on Benny Carter’s Harlem Renaissance, which earned a Grammy Award. Rupert was recently featured on Jazz Samba Pra Sempre, celebrating the groundbreaking album Jazz Samba with Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz. He has also performed with Kevin Mahogany, Ernestine Anderson, Joe Farnsworth, Ray Drummond, Harry Allen, pianist Benny Green, Kenny Drew Jr., trumpeter Michael Philip Mossman, and pianist and singer Judy Carmichael.
Rupert has several releases under his own name including Let’s Sail Away with Veronica Swift (2017) and Imagination (2016) and R&D (2018) with pianist Richard Drexler. His third album, From Memphis to Mobile, with Kenny Drew Jr., features original compositions by Rupert. His upcoming release with Kenny Barron features Joe Farnsworth and Peter Washington and was recorded at Vangelder Studio. Since 2011, Rupert has led The Jazz Professors, with four JazzWeek charting albums. Blues and Cubes is their latest release on Flying Horse Records, and features compositions inspired by Pablo Picasso.
Rupert joined Sam Rivers’ band in 1996 and appeared in four recordings with the group. He has performed in hundreds of concerts with Rivers, including performances at Lincoln Center for Ed Bradley’s Jazz from Lincoln Center (broadcast on NPR), the Vision Festival NYC and Columbia University. He has been a member of the Jaguar International Jazz Series alongside Joe LaBarbera, Tom Wharington, Larry Koonse, and John Fedchock. Most recently he performed with Michael Philip Mossman and John Riley at the Taipei National Concert Hall, Taiwan.
He received his Master’s of Music in saxophone/ jazz performance from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, and his Bachelor of Music in saxophone from Rutgers University.
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