Emmanuel Michael

Born and raised in South Dakota as a first-generation Ugandan and Southern Sudanese, Emmanuel is a New York City based artist who believes that without self-reflection and empathy towards himself and others, the foundation of what makes a truthful artist/human would crumble.

Recent artistic endeavors have included returning in 2025 as a member of Marcus Gilmore’s: Journey The New at the Village Vanguard’s week long residency, in 2024; making their two-consecutive-week long debut at the legendary Village Vanguard, playing as a member of The Marcus Gilmore Sextet and recording the live album “Journey To The New” during their week long residency, as well as playing as a member of Dayna Stephen’s Quintet at The Village Vanguard the following week, making Emmanuel’s debut at the Village Vanguard an immensely rare circumstance. Emmanuel is also a 2024 recipient of The Jazz Gallery’s prestigious Residency Commission; awarding Emmanuel a year long residency with various performances throughout the year at the historic venue, as well as a grant to write and perform new original compositions (Rio Sakairi curation). Other artistic endeavors include being apart of Guggenheim Fellow Anthony Tidd’s: Quite Sane Collective and residency at Atelier Harlem, touring Switzerland as a member of The Savannah Harris Trio, recording as a member of the Matt Slocum Trio ft. Larry Grenadier unreleased),  playing as a member of the Miles Okazaki Duo, playing as a member of The Gilad Hekselman Quartet at The Jazz Gallery, playing as a member of The Miles Okazaki & Paul Cornish Group, playing as a member of Paul Cornish’s Quartet, recording as a member of George Burton’s newest record (unreleased), recording an album as a member of The Harish Ragavand Quartet (unreleased), recording as a member of Caleb Wheeler Curtis’s newest album ft. Orrin Evans,  playing as a member of the Harish Ragavand Quartet throughout NYC, playing as a member of John Hébert’s Quartet ft. Tom Rainey, recording as a member of Kelly Schenk’s debut album (unreleased), recording as a special guest for Tyreek McDole’s debut album (Open Up Your Senses), recording as a special guest for Dida Pelled’s album (unreleased)
leading The Emmanuel Michael Group to play at the Jazz Gallery featuring Harish Raghavan, playing as a member of the 2025 Alternative Guitar Summit (Joel Harrison, Gilad Hekselman, Dida Pelled, Pedro Martins, Anthony Pirog, Rudy Royston, Jerome Harris) leading The Emmanuel Michael Group to play at Little Island in curated by Cecile McLorin Salvant, as well as leading their group to play sold out shows at NYC’s newest club Close Up, playing as a member of Marquis Hill’s: Color Theory touring throughout the US as well as a week-long residency at Smoke Jazz Club, being a member of the Ambrose Akinmusire Sextet (Banyan Seed) premiering newly commissioned suite written by Akinmusire at The Harlem Stage, leading The Emmanuel Michael Group to play at Duck Creek, playing as a member of the Obed Calvaire Septet for his latest album release (100 Million Gold Francs) at Dizzy’s Club (Jazz at Lincoln Center) as well as touring throughout Poland, playing as a member of the Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet playing in Warsaw, Poland, New York City, and San Diego, playing as a member of the Joel Ross and Friends at The Jazz Gallery, playing as a member of Kalia Vandeaver Quartet for the grand opening of New York’s newest club Close Up, leading their own double guitar quartet (The Emmanuel Michael Group) throughout a tour of Switzerland (Musig Im Pflegidach) performing and teaching masterclasses, playing as a member of the Aaron Parks: Archetypes Sextet at The Jazz Gallery, playing as a member of the Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet for the Doris Duke Foundation, recording two albums as a member of the The Dayna Stephens Now Quartet (2024 Spring release through Cellar Live) and conducting frequent North American tours, co-leading (The Tim Watson & Emmanuel Michael Group) at Nublu featuring Kweku Sumbry and Dion Kier, recording as a special guest for Cameron Campbell’s debut album (unreleased), recording as a special guest along-side Jaleel Shaw for Shuji Watanabe’s debut album (unreleased), recording as a special guest on Henry Plotnick’s debut album (unreleased), recording an EP through Looking Glass Arts as a member of Maya Keren’s sonic-landscape Careful in the Sun and performing throughout New York City, multi-disciplinary artistic residencies with Immanuel Wilkins and Odean Pope, performing as a member of the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet at Duck Creek, recording a studio album as a member of the Kabelo Mokhatla Group (The Key To Authenticity), performing and leading masterclasses as a member of the Imani Rouselle Quartet in Switzerland (Musig Im Pflegidach), performing as a member of Veronica Leahy’s undergraduate Harvard thesis (American Tonic), playing at New York Fashion Week for Dauphinette, leading their own sextet premiering original compositions at WKCR-FM (Columbia University Radio), debuting their own group at The Jazz Gallery with Billy Drummond and Gilad Hekselman, leading their own group for a seven-week residency at Cafe Bohemia, and other frequent public performances in New York City as a leader and ensemble member at historically vital New York City venues including 55 Bar, Smalls, Nublu, Dizzy’s Coca Cola, Bar Bayeux, The Django, Ornithology, Cafe Bohemia, Sisters, Fiction, Room 623, Clement’s Place, Jamaica Center for the Arts, The Blue Note, The National Sawdust, Smoke Jazz Club, The Jazz Gallery, Close Up and The Village Vanguard, amongst other locations.

Emmanuel was accepted into and currently attends the world-prestigious Manhattan School of Music and has been able to devote themself to learning and challenging their artistic morals by working with many other artists who also continue searching for truth and honesty. These ideals have enabled Emmanuel to work with artists such as Bill Frisell, Chris Dave, Terri Lynn Carrington, Dayna Stephens, Billy Drummond, Harish Ragavand, Ambrose Akinmusire, Marcus Gilmore, Marquis Hill, Gerald Clayton, Miles Okazaki, Mary Halverson, Sullivan Fortner, Gilad Hekselman, Kendrick Scott, Larry Grenadier, Anthony Tidd, David Virelles, Aaron Parks, Fabian Almazan, Rashaan Carter, Marta Sanchez, Burniss (Boom Bishop) Travis, Pedro Martins, Immanuel Wilkins, Ben Street, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Obed Calvaire, Maria Grand, Dida Pelled, Curtis Nowosad, George Burton, Johnathan Pinson, Savannah Harris, Joel Ross, Or Bareket,  Joe Dyson, Rick Rosato, Micah Thomas, Kweku Sumbry, DJ Ginyard, Caleb Wheeler Curtis, Orrin Evans, Dion Kerr, Martin Nevin, Sam Harris, Craig Weinrib, Kanoa Mendenhall, Felix Moseholm, Esteban Castro, Jayla Chee, Kelly Schenk, Dave King, Makaya McCraven, Jaleel Shaw, Tivon Pennicott, Felix Ambach, Rudy Royston, Joel Harrison, Tom Rainey, Dezron Douglas,  Tim Watson, Miguel Russell, Jonny Mansfield, Emilio Modeste, Tyreek McDole, Miki Yamanaka, Jasper Dutz, Jimmy McBride, Samantha Kochis, Julius Gawlik, Adam Codero, Joe Dyson, Jacob Patrone, Bomin Kim, Roger Kintopf, Isa Crespo Pardo, Luke McCarthy, Willerm Delisfort, Will Sach, Domo Branch, Neta Ranaan, Ethan Kogan, DoYeon Kim, Milena Casado, Celine Kang, Nathan Nakadagawa-Lee,  Nick Dunston, Robert Vega, S T E P |-|, Lex Korten, Alfredo Colon, Barry Stephenson, Jon Thomas, JK Kim, Adam O’Farrill, Kalia Vandeaver, Imani Rousselle, Zoe Obadia, Cameron Campbell, Sunhyun Yoo, Jonas Esser, Noam Avnon, Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez, Joe Giordano, Tim Angulo, Ryoma Takenaga, Gary Jones III, David Mirarchi, Maya Keren, Conner Parks, Odin Scherer, Sergio Tabanico, Solomon Gottfried, Abdias Armenteros, Eliza Salem, Matei Predescu, Miles Lennox, Orrin Evans, Anna Abondolo, Vittorio Stropoli, Jon Beshay, Judette Elliston, Luke Sellik, Rafael Enciso, Taiga Ultan, Jillian Willis, Leo Steinriede, Jason Clotter, Geoff Galante, Adam Lamoureux, Nolan Nwachukwu, David Zheng, Nicholas Creus, Veronica Leahy, Dion Kerr, mitamu, Eden Girma, Nicola Caminiti, Jaccob Pattrone, Destiny Diggs, Strucky Yi, Christian X Mcgee, Veronica Leahy, Ian Wacksman, Devon Gates, Miranda Agnew, Keyon Harrold, Josh Green, Hamish Smith, Joey Curreri, Chaz Martineau, Julian Miltenberger, Kal Ferretti, Addie Vogt, Dan Finn, Jacob Smith, Mwanzi Harriot, John Murray, Gabe Lee, Chris Bitner, Vinton Hines, Nic Gellin, Lorenzo Wolczko, Ben Solomon, Davis Whitfield, Jeremiah Edwards, Shakoor Hakeem, Summer Camargo, and world-renowned saxophone vanguard Odean Pope, amongst others artists.

The Emmanuel Michael Group’s double guitar quartet is currently being investigated upon artistically with Emmanuel’s close comrade, Tim Watson. Together, they seek to search for truth and honesty within this intimate and vast sonic universe. Showcasing Emmanuel’s heartfelt compositions, the quartet’s goal is to carry forward the spiritual message that by reflecting upon one’s own experiences in conjunction with questioning the environment witnessed by themselves and others, empathy will be the guiding factor in living the freest life.

The world-traveling guitarist/composer began playing guitar in 8th grade and soon began to gain attention while attending public school at Washington High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he was invited to be a member of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Peer-To-Peer All-Star Sextet with world-renowned saxophonist Steve Wilson and vocalist Lisa Henry, as a sophomore, leading masterclasses and performing with the ensemble. Shortly after, Michael was accepted as a member of the NYO Jazz Orchestra (led by Carninge Hall) under the direction of trumpeter Sean Jones and two-time Grammy award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling, touring, performing, and teaching extensively throughout China and Taiwan while entering his senior year of high school.

Emmanuel believes that by questioning the love one gives and shares, and examining the roots of where those human experiences and interpretations come from, one can be empathetic towards others and themselves to understand and expose one’s true self.