Ron Boustead

Ron Boustead first emerged on the jazz scene in Cincinnati, Ohio in the early 1980s, where he recorded his initial solo LP, “First Light” with the Steve Schmidt trio for Mopro Records. It was a hard-swinging outing featuring lyrics Ron had written to solos and compositions by jazz greats like Chet Baker, Clare Fischer, Chick Corea and Freddy Hubbard. His vocalese version of “Autumn Leaves” landed him in heavy rotation on national jazz radio. As a fan and student of Mark Murphy, Boustead delved deeply into the be-bop repertoire, which he brought with him when he moved to Los Angeles in 1983.

Boustead began collaborating with Contemporary keyboard wizard, Gregg Karukas soon after, and together they wrote and recorded songs like “Sound of Emotion” and “In My Dreams”, which were hits in the early days of the Quiet Storm format. They also penned songs for artists like George Benson, Jonathan Butler, Deniece Williams, Arnold McCuller and Pauline Wilson (Seawind).

In 1990, Ron became a staff songwriter on the groundbreaking television musical, “Cop Rock”, for which he earned an Emmy nomination for a big production number highlighting the plight of the homeless, “Nowhere To Go, Nothing To Do”. World music spoke to Boustead in 1996 in the form of his highly inventive “Circle of Souls” CD, co-written with Michael McGregor and released and performed in the U.S. and Japan. The record fused African and Celtic mythology with contemporary beats, and featured violin phenomenon, Karen Briggs.