Ram Ramirez

Ramirez was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on September 15, 1913.[1] He grew up in New York and started playing the piano at a young age.[1]

Ramirez's first professional performances were in the early 1930s.[1] In 1933 he played with Monette Moore, then with Rex Stewart and Sid Catlett in New York.[1] He joined Willie Bryant in 1935, and toured Europe with Bobby Martin in 1937.[1] During the first half of the 1940s Ramirez played with Ella Fitzgerald, Frankie Newton, Charlie Barnet, John Kirby, and Catlett, in addition to leading his own band.[1]

Ramirez wrote "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)" in 1942,[2] which became a jazz standard following Billie Holiday's recording of it two years later.[1] He was a freelance into the mid-1950s, when he added electronic organ to his instruments.[1] In 1953 he was in one of Duke Ellington's small groups, as a substitute.[3]

Ramirez again toured Europe in 1968, this time with T-Bone Walker.[1] In 1979 and 1980 he was part of the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band, including for appearances in Germany.[1] He also freelanced after this,[1] and retired for health reasons in 1987.[2] Ramirez was married to Marcy and had a daughter.[2] He died of kidney failure in Queens, New York City[2] on January 11, 1994.[1]

• Ram Ramirez: Live in Harlem (Black & Blue)
• Ram Ramirez: "Fine and Mellow" (RCA) (as "Roger Ram")
• Ram Ramirez: "I'll Remember April" (RCA) (as "Roger Ram")
• Putney Dandridge: 1935–1936 (Classics)
• The Duke's Men – Small Groups, Vol. 1 (Columbia, 1934–38)
• Ella Fitzgerald: 1939–1940 (Classics)
• Helen Humes: 1945–1946 (Classics)
• John Kirby: 1945–1946 (Classics)
• Ike Quebec: 1944–1946 (Classics), The Blue Note Swingtets (Blue Note, 1944)
• Rex Stewart: 1934–1946 (Classics)
• Annie Ross & King Pleasure: Sings (OJC, 1952, 1953)