July Featured Artist: Emmanuel Michael
Jazz fans in the Sioux Falls area have been blessed with a deep pool of talented local musicians. In addition to creating a vibrant and creative local music scene, they have also fostered an incredible and supportive learning environment for aspiring young musicians, like jazz guitarist Emmanuel Micheal, this month’s featured artist.
In 2017, Emmanuel was discovered by the Herbie Hancock Institute for Jazz Education when they visited Washington High School as part of an educational tour across the United States. They were so impressed that they invited him to join them on their tour the following year. In the years that followed, Emmanuel continued to hone his skills by recording and performing with local jazz musicians and teaching younger musicians at local summer jazz camps in the Sioux Falls area.
In 2020, Emmanuel moved to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music. He has since evolved into a distinguished jazz guitarist, celebrated for his technical prowess and emotive playing style. His early career has been marked by a deep understanding of jazz traditions and a penchant for innovation. Emmanuel tours regularly across North America and Europe and frequently performs in jazz clubs across New York City with some of today’s best jazz musicians, including Gilad Hekselman, Billy Drummond, Emmanuel Wilkins, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Dayna Stevens.
Most recently, Emmanuel was featured on Dayna Stevens’ latest album, “Closer than We Think.” In his liner notes, Stevens described meeting Emmanuel as “someone I met in Sep 2022 as a student in my ensemble at Manhattan School of Music. He immediately struck me as a one-of-a-kind guitarist with a very special approach to expressing emotion with a personal sense of time and harmony. His sound will delightfully consume you into an unforgettable cloud of mushy goodness.”
As he continues to ascend in the jazz community, Emmanuel remains an open source of inspiration, support and advice to young musicians from the Sioux Falls community. Beyond his musical talent, he is universally regarded as one of the kindest human beings on the planet.
The Sioux Falls jazz community is extremely proud of Emmanuel and enjoys following his musical journey. Please take some time to check out his work on Dayna Stevens’ album, and we look forward to seeing him perform here in Sioux Falls whenever he comes home to visit.
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