Born: October 19, 1959 Primary Instrument: Drums
A versatile drummer who also plays vibes and marimba, Ronnie Burrage has forged a style as much at home with the bristling pace of hard bop and bebop as with the heavy backbeats of funk, soul and R&B. Burrage's mother was a classical pianist, and he sang in the St. Louis Cathedral boys' choir and played drums with various funk bands. He accompanied Arthur Blythe, Jackie McLean, Andrew Hill and McCoy Tyner during visits to St. Louis while working with the St. Louis Metropolitan Jazz Quintet in the early '80s. Burrage played in the Woody Shaw quintet in the mid-'80s, then formed Third Kind of Blue with John Purcell and Anthony Cox in 1986. They recorded that same year, and Burrage later did a session with Barbara Dennerlein. Both dates are available on CD.
