Biography

Saxophonist MSG Xavier Perez of Hialeah, Florida holds a Bachelor of Music in Studio Music/Jazz Performance from the University of Miami and a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from SUNY-Purchase. He was named "2001 Top Collegiate Jazz Soloist in the U.S. and Canada" by Down Beat Magazine's Student Music Awards Division. He was twice invited to compete in the international World Jazz Saxophone Competition, both times taking second place. In 2003, he was selected for jazz vocalist Betty Carter's artist-instructor mentoring jazz residency program, Jazz Ahead, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and was selected in 2007 and 2008 for Carnegie Hall's Emerging Artists Program. As a saxophonist in bands such as Maynard Ferguson's Big Bop Nouveau, the United Nations Orchestra, and the Jon Faddis Orchestra, Perez has played in notable venues such as New York's Blue Note Jazz Club, Washington, DC's Blues Alley, and New York's Carnegie Hall with artists such as Ignacio Berroa, Randy Brecker, Diane Schure, Hector Martignon, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Roy Hargrove, and Slide Hampton. Perez joined The United States Military Academy Band's Jazz Knights in 2009, and in 2013 became a member of The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" as tenor saxophonist with the U.S. Army Blues.