Rick Margitza is an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 tenor saxophonist.

Margitza began playing violin at age four; his grandfather was a cellist and his father played violin with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its main performance center is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood...

. Following this he played piano and oboe, and settled on tenor sax while in Fordson high school

Fordson High School

Fordson High School is a secondary school located in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was completed in 1928 on a parcel of land which was then the village of Fordson, named for Henry Ford and his son Edsel Ford.-History:...

. He attended several colleges - Wayne State University

Wayne State University

Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...

, Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...

, University of Miami

University of Miami

The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...

 and Loyola University New Orleans

Loyola University New Orleans

Loyola University New Orleans is a private, co-educational and Jesuit university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the name of the Jesuit patron, Saint Ignatius of Loyola...

. He toured with Maynard Ferguson

Maynard Ferguson

Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...

 and Flora Purim

Flora Purim

Flora Purim is a Brazilian jazz singer known primarily for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became prominent for her part in Chick Corea's landmark album Return to Forever...

 in the 1980s, and moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1988, where he played with Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

.

Between 1989 and 1991, Margitza released three sessions for Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...

, and has recorded copiously thereafter, including with Eddie Gomez

Eddie Gomez

Edgar "Eddie" Gómez is a Puerto Rican jazz double bassist born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, perhaps most notable for his work done with the Bill Evans trio from 1966 to 1977.-Biography:...

, Tony Williams, Bobby Hutcherson

Bobby Hutcherson

Bobby Hutcherson is a jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His vibraphone playing is suggestive of the style of Milt Jackson in its free-flowing melodicism, but his sense of harmony and group interaction is thoroughly modern...

, Maria Schneider

Maria Schneider (musician)

Maria Schneider is an American arranger, composer, and big-band leader who has won multiple awards. In 2005, her album Concert in the Garden won a Grammy for "Best Large Ensemble Album"...

, McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...

 and Chick Corea

Chick Corea

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...

. He has also composed a saxophone concerto

Concerto

A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

 and two symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

 for orchestra.

Discography

• Color (Blue Note Records
  Blue Note Records
  Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
  
  , 1989) U.S. Jazz #9
• Hope (Blue Note, 1990) U.S. Jazz #11
• This is New (Blue Note, 1991) U.S. Jazz #19
• Standard New (EMI
  EMI
  The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
  
  , 1991)
• Hands of Time (Challenge Records (1994)
  Challenge Records (1994)
  A third label Challenge Records International was founded in the Netherlands in 1994 dedicated to recordings of classical music and jazz. On of its subsidiary Retrieval is dedicated to reissues of vintage jazz now out of copyright in Europe, many transferred by remastering engineer John R.T...
  
  , 1994)
• Work It (SteepleChase Records
  SteepleChase Records
  SteepleChase Records is a jazz record label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time...
  
  , 1995)
• Game of Chance (Challenge, 1997)
• Heart of Hearts (Palmetto Records
  Palmetto Records
  Palmetto Records is an independent American jazz record label founded in 1990 by Matt Balitsaris. -Artists:*Ben Allison*Lili Anel*Matt Wilson*Fred Hersch*Ted Nash*Bill Mays*Larry Goldings*David Berkman*Dr...
  
  , 2000)
• Memento (Palmetto, 2001)
• Bohemia (Nocturne Jazz, 2005)
• Second Home (2006)