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SSG Michael Reifenberg Staff Sergeant Michael Reifenberg, a native of Cudahy, Wisconsin, joined the saxophone section of the Jazz Knights in September 2005. In 2003, he received a Bachelor of Music in Saxophone Performance from the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. Two years later, SSG Reifenberg completed a Master of Music in Jazz Studies at Indiana University School of Music, where he was also an associate instructor under renowned jazz pedagogue David Baker. Throughout the years, Reifenberg's most influential teachers have been Curt Hanrahan, Rob Wilkerson, Tom Walsh, Pat Harbison and David Baker. In addition, he has studied improvisation with Ed Peterson, Joel Frahm, Clay Jenkins and others. SSG Reifenberg has also performed with several jazz legends, including James Moody, Slide Hampton, Bob Mintzer, David Sanchez, the late Frank Mantooth, Denis DiBlasio, Matt Harris, Steve Houghton and Jeff Jarvis. Additionally, he was a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Pops, the Doc Severinsen Big Band, the American Swing Orchestra, the Al Cobine Big Band, the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra, the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra and a host of other bands in the Milwaukee and Indianapolis areas. While in Indiana, Reifenberg was a member of the Bloomington-based Saxophone Cartel, a saxophone/woodwind quintet playing anything from creative arrangements of standard jazz repertoire to original works and pieces that were collectively improvised on the spot. The group was selected to perform at the 2005 North Sea Jazz Festival and recently released its first CD Caught in the Act. SSG
Derrick James Staff Sergeant Derrick James is a native of New York, New York. He has been a member of the Jazz Knights saxophone section since August of 2001. As the son of a gospel singer and grandson of a jazz trombonist, he was immersed in music from birth and began playing saxophone at the age of nine. SSG James attended the Berklee College of Music, Long Island University, and the University of Miami. As a civilian, SSG James has performed with Chaka Khan, Billy Cobham, Prince, Donna Summer, Gloria Estefan, Red Holloway, Whitney Houston, Pete Yellin, Adam Nussbaum, Jimmy Cobb and Moses Allison, among others. SSG James has appeared on several television broadcasts, including The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Good Morning America, The Sinbad Soul Music Festival on Home Box Office and the Black Entertainment Network. Additionally, he has performed at the Montreux, Playboy and Hampton Jazz Festivals, as well as at the Ebony Music Festival. SSG
David Loy Song Raised in Westfield, Massachusetts, Staff Sergeant David Loy Song graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1999, earning a bachelor's degree in African American-Music and Jazz. SSG Loy Song has toured nationally and internationally with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. His private instructors have included Yusef Lateef, Adam Kolker, Lynn Klock, Ted Levine, and Jeff Holmes. SSG Loy Song has been performing on lead tenor saxophone in the Jazz Knights since November of 2003. SFC
Jermaine Malone Sergeant First Class Jermaine Malone is originally from Oakland, California. While in high school, he was a member of the Monterey Jazz Festival High School All-Stars. This group toured Japan with band leader Bill Berry, and performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival with guest stars Dizzy Gillespie, Donald T. Carson and Bruce Foreman. After graduating from high school, he accepted a football scholarship to the University of Nevada, where he studied music education. SFC Malone joined the U.S. Army as a personnel service clerk in 1993. He served in this capacity at Camp Casey, Korea, Ft. Gillem, Georgia and Ft. McPherson, Georgia. SFC Malone changed his career focus to music in 1998. He has served as a musician with the 101st Division Band at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky; the U.S. Continental Army Band at Ft. Monroe, Virginia and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe International Jazz Orchestra, in Belgium. He was a Distinguished Honor Graduate at the U.S. Armed Forces School of Music Basic Non-Commissioned Officer Course. He has also earned the Air Assault Badge. Sergeant First Class Malone has been a member of the Jazz Knights saxophone section since June of 2004. SSG
Xavier Perez Staff Sergeant Xavier Perez is a native of Hialeah, Florida and joined the saxophone section of the Jazz Knights in September 2009. In 2001, he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Music & Jazz Performance from the University of Miami receiving the Director’s Award, the school’s highest honor, given only to one graduating performer per discipline. In 2001, Xavier was also named top collegiate jazz soloist in the United States and Canada by DownBeat Magazine’s student music awards. In 2001 he joined the band of jazz legend Maynard Ferguson’s Big Bop Nouveau performing in several national tours across the country with performances in New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club among others. In 2003, Xavier participated in Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead, a program in Washington D.C. which “identifies outstanding, emerging jazz artists in their mid-teens to age thirty, and brings them together under the tutelage of experienced artist-instructors who coach and counsel them, helping to polish their performance, composing and arranging skills.” Also in 2003, Perez was selected from more than 60 international applicants to compete in the semi-finals of the World Jazz Saxophone Competition in Montreux, Switzerland. Xavier was the only applicant from the U.S. to reach the semi-finals and won second place overall. A year later he was again selected to compete in the World Jazz Saxophone Competition now in London, England out of a pool of applicants from more than 14 countries. Xavier again won second place. In 2007 and 2008, he was selected to participate and perform in Carnegie Hall’s emerging artists program. During the workshops he had the opportunity to study and perform in Carnegie Hall with program directors Paquito D’Rivera and Fred Hersch. Since moving to New York City in 2004, he has obtained his Master’s Degree in Jazz Studies and has become an active performer in the city’s vibrant jazz and Latin jazz music scene. Xavier has performed as a sideman in many of the top jazz clubs and festivals in the U.S and Europe. Artists include The United Nations Orchestra directed by Paquito D’Rivera, Jon Faddis Orchestra, Ignacio Berroa, Randy Brecker, John Benitez, Hector Martignon, Diane Schure, and Samuel Torres among many others. Recently Xavier was also asked to sit in with jazz legends, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Roy Hargrove and Slide Hampton at the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival. He currently resides in New York City while performing with the USMA’s Jazz Knights as well keeping an active civilian performance schedule. |
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