Herlin Riley is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Neo-bop jazz

Neo-bop jazz

Neo-bop is a style of jazz that emerged in the 1980s as a reaction against free jazz and jazz fusion. In the United States it is associated with Wynton Marsalis and "The Young Lions." The effort earned praise and also criticism. Miles Davis called it "warmed over turkey" and others deemed it to be...

 drummer

Drummer

A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

. Along with other notable musicians such as Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...

 and Wessel Anderson, he is a member of the New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 jazz group, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Riley was born in New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

 into a musical family, and first began playing the drums at the age of three. He studied trumpet throughout high school and for two years of college, but his interest in the instrument waned and he began to focus again on drums.

From 1984 to 1987, Riley was a member of Ahmad Jamal

Ahmad Jamal

Ahmad Jamal is an innovative and influential American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. According to Stanley Crouch, Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker...

's group. He joined Wynton Marsalis in 1988, and toured and performed with them until the group disbanded in 1994. He also performed music by Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

 on the first Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra U.S. tour in 1992.

He has made recordings with Marcus Roberts

Marcus Roberts

Marcus Roberts is an American jazz pianist who has achieved fame as a stride pianist committed to celebrating classic standards and jazz traditions. Roberts has also distinguished his solos by accompanying himself with walking basslines...

, Dr. John

Dr. John

Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...

, Harry Connick, Jr.

Harry Connick, Jr.

Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...

, George Benson

George Benson

George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....

, Benny Wallace, and Mark Whitfield

Mark Whitfield

Mark Whitfield is an American hard bop and soul-jazz guitarist born in Syosset, New York, probably better known for his recordings as bandleader for both the Verve and Warner Bros. Records record labels...

. He has also played in theatrical performances, including One Mo' Time and Satchmo: America's Musical Legend.

Riley is a regularly featured musician at Jazz at Lincoln Center

Jazz at Lincoln Center

Jazz at Lincoln Center is part of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. JALC's performing arts complex, Frederick P. Rose Hall, is located at West 60th Street and Broadway in New York City, slightly south of the main Lincoln Center campus and directly adjacent to Columbus Circle. Frederick P....

, and played a large part in developing the drum parts for Wynton Marsalis's Pulitzer Prize-winning Blood on the Fields

Blood on the Fields

Blood on the Fields is a three-and-a-half-hour jazz oratorio, by Wynton Marsalis. It was commissioned by Lincoln Center and concerns a couple moving from slavery to freedom....

. He is a lecturer in percussion for the jazz studies program at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 in Evanston, IL.

Awards

Riley and Shannon Powell

Shannon Powell

”The King of Treme” Shannon Powell is an American jazz and New Orleans jazz virtuoso drummer. He has toured internationally and played with Ellis Marsalis, Danny Barker, Willie Metcalf Jr., Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis & the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Diana Krall, Earl King, Dr...

 were awarded the 2010 Ascona Jazz Award from the Ascona Jazz Festival

Ascona Jazz Festival

Ascona Jazz Festival, or Jazz Ascona, is an annual Jazz Festival held in Ascona, Switzerland. The 10-day festival, from late June to early July takes place on the Swiss shores of Lake Maggiore and is devoted to historical styles of jazz and in particular to the music of New Orleans.Under the...

 in Ascona

Ascona

Ascona is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.It is located on the shore of Lake Maggiore.The town is a popular tourist destination, and holds a yearly jazz festival, the Ascona Jazz Festival....

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.