Doug Little is recognized as an elite jazz musician, an exceptional composer, and a noted educator. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Little moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to attend Macalester College. In 1991 he graduated with a degree in Political Science and French. In 1994 co-founded the innovative and successful jazz sextet, Motion Poets. Doug began leading his own quartet in 2000. He later recorded two CDs, collaborated with Italian pianist Giacomo Aula, and toured with the quartet throughout the United States and Europe.

      In 2002 and 2005 he was awarded two major research grants to study music in Cuba. During his five months on the island he attended the National School of Arts in Havana and studied with noted musicians Jauquin Oliveros (tours and CDs with Chucho Valdés), Jorge Leliebre (Grammy with Los Van Van) and Andres Alén (Arturo Sanduval, Latin Grammy nominations).  Little was later awarded a grant by the Jerome Foundation that supported travel and study to Brazil in 2008.

      In recent years Doug Little created several new ensembles and compositions that incorporat a strong Latin influence into his work.  He was commissioned to compose a four-movement suite for saxophone quartet and Cuban percussion which was premiered in 2003. He formed a world music trio with musicians from Cuba and Brazil entitled Tres Mundos (Three Worlds). In 2005 he created the Latin jazz ensemble Seven Steps To Havana. In 2006 he founded Charanga Tropical, the only group in the Midwest playing with the traditional charanga instrumentation of three violins, flute, and full Latin rhythm section. That same year Little released three CDs and a DVD featuring the various ensembles and music. The recordings led to Little being chosen by the French Ministry of Culture for a three-month artist residency in 2007 at La Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

      Active in education, Little founded and still directs the Twin Cities Jazz Workshop, a summer program that has taught jazz fundamentals to hundreds of students since its inception in 1996. Little has visited hundreds of classrooms for master classes and artist residencies. In 2006 St. Paul Chamber Orchestra commissioned him to create to two pieces for junior high orchestra as part of the organization’s composer-in-the-schools program.

      For his work as a musician and composer Doug Little has received support from the American Composers Forum, the Jerome Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the Minneapolis Arts Commission, the McKnight Foundation, and the Bush Foundation. A linguist as well as an artist, Little speaks excellent French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.