Kalí Rodríguez

“Whose bristling tone and bilingual fluency has commanded attention in New York”
-Wall Street Journal

Latin Grammy-nominated Cuban trumpeter and composer Kalí Rodríguez-Peña is one of the leading voices of a young generation of Cuban musicians living in New York City. His sound fuses the traditional motifs of his native Cuba with a passion for jazz classicism influenced by Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Freddie Hubbard.
Born and raised in Havana, Cuba, Kali was 14 years old when he caught the attention of multi-instrumentalist Bobby Carcasses, the world-renowned guru of Afrocuban jazz whose mentorship introduced Kalí to the jazz idiom. After winning top prizes in important national jazz related events, he was awarded a full scholarship to the prestigious Manhattan School of Music where he studied under the tutelage of Jon Faddis and Stefon Harris.
Since, Kalí has led his own bands in top venues and festivals in North America, and has also shared the stage with distinguished musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Chucho Valdés, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo O’Farrill, Michel Camilo, Esperanza Spalding, Miguel Zenón, David Murray, Anat Cohen, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Cándido Camero, Ricky Martin, Luis Fonsi, Olga Tañón, among others.
Kalí has been a finalist for the Cintas Foundation Music Composition Fellowship (2024), was awarded Harlem Stage’s WaterWorks Emerging Artist cohort (2023), New Music USA’s Creator Development Fund (2021), Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, Inc. Scholarship (2017), and was a finalist at the National Trumpet Competition (2016). His album Mélange (2022) was released under the Truth Revolution Records label, and its music is featured on the TV show “Let The Right One In” by television network Showtime. He also participated as a guest performer in the CD "Familia" (2017) by Grammy-winning artists Arturo O'Farrill and Chucho Valdés, as well as Michel Camilo's release "Essence" (2019), and Pedrito Martínez’ “Acertijos” (2021). He has also been a panelist at the Jazz Congress (2025), and a guest lecturer at the Louis Armstrong House Museum (2023-2024), the National Jazz Museum in Harlem (2022-2023), and at the University of California, Riverside (2014).

​"He understands the greatest mission that Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo spoke of, he understands that the conversation is far deeper than to be dogmatic”
- Arturo O'Farrill