Michael Rosen is a US saxophonist, born in 1963 in Ithaca, New York, and mostly active in Europe. After studying at Berklee School of Music, where he works with teachers including George Garzone, Bill Peirce and Gary Burton, he moves to Europe and builds a career there as a live and studio musician.

Following an Italian and Swiss tour in 1987 with keyboardist Delmar Brown, he settles in Italy. He becomes active on the southern European jazz scene, playing at major jazz festivals and working with many leading jazz musicians from Italy and Switzerland. His collaborators include ECM recording artists Enrico Rava and Franco D’Andrea, as well as Swiss trumpeter Franco Ambrosetti.

He also performs and records with several well-known American musicians, among them Jim Hall, Carl Anderson, Tommy Campbell, Peter Erskine, Mike Stern and Kenny Wheeler. Mike Stern and Kenny Wheeler both invite him to sit in at their concerts after hearing him play. Peter Erskine provides a quotation for the sleeve of Rosen’s album Elusive Creatures.

Rosen is also a guest jazz soloist with performances by musicians from the La Scala Orchestra. He tours widely in northern Europe, appears in major concert halls such as the Zenith in Paris and the Olympiahalle in Munich, plays in professional football stadiums in Italy and Argentina, and appears on national television in Switzerland, Sweden, France, Germany and Italy.

He spends four years as lead soloist in the big band for one of Italy’s most popular television shows before focusing on his solo work. He continues to play in concert halls, festivals and jazz clubs in Europe and, when in New York City, maintains professional contacts there.

As a studio musician, he records solos on around seventy albums and CDs across many genres. His work appears with a wide range of Italian singers, including Mina, Adriano Celentano and Renato Zero, and he shares album credits with musicians such as Tom Brechtlein, Steve Ferrone, Enrico Rava, Oscar Cartaya and Bo Diddley. His saxophone also features on the soundtrack for the ISO dance group’s 1991 performances in Tokyo and at Rockefeller Center in New York.