Saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón is widely recognized as one of the most groundbreaking and influential musicians of his generation, with a unique voice that fuses jazz with his many musical influences. He topped the Jazz Artist of the Year and Alto Saxophonist of the Year categories in the 2014 JazzTimes Critics Poll and was selected as Alto Saxophonist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020 (when he was also recognized as Arranger of the Year). In 2023, he was recognized by the same organization as the Composer of the Year.
Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and now based in New York City, Zenón has released 17 albums as a leader, including his latest Golden City (2024), the Grammy-winning album El Arte Del Bolero Vol. 2 (2023), and the Grammy-nominated Música De Las Américas (2022). He has worked with luminaries such as the SFJAZZ Collective, Charlie Haden, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, David Sánchez, Danilo Perez, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Kurt Elling, and Joey Calderazzo, among others. In 2011, he founded Caravana Cultural, a program which presents free jazz concerts in rural areas of Puerto Rico. As a composer, Zenón has been commissioned by SFJAZZ, NYO Jazz, the New York State Council on the Arts, Chamber Music America, the Logan Center for The Arts, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, MIT, Spektral Quartet, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, the Hewlett Foundation, PEAK Performances, and PRISM Quartet, among others.
Zenón’s awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship (2008), a MacArthur Fellowship (2008), an honorary doctorate from La Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and a Doris Duke Artist Award (2024). He currently serves on the faculty of MIT’s Music & Theater Arts Department and is a visiting scholar at Berklee College of Music.
