Lionel D. Lyles II
Lionel D. Lyles II, born in Boulder, Colorado, graduated from Morgan State University in 2002 with a major in music education. He founded the Lionel Lyles Quintet, which released its first album, The September Sessions, in 2006. Afterward, Lyles pursued a master’s degree in music (jazz studies with a focus on saxophone performance) at North Carolina Central University, graduating in 2008. While there, he studied with renowned jazz artists such as Branford Marsalis, Joey Calderazzo, Jimmy Heath, Roy Hargrove, and Brian Horton. The quintet has produced three albums: The September Sessions (2006), At The Precipice (2014), and Simplistically Complex (2019). Lyles has received multiple honors, including Best Jazz Tenor at the Washington City Paper’s JAZZY Awards in 2015 and Best Performing Artist across all genres in 2016. He is currently Director of Jazz at Morgan State University, where he continues to perform, teach, and inspire through his dedication to jazz and education.