Ronnie Burrage

Career

Burrage sang in the St. Louis Cathedral boys' choir from age seven to eleven and performed with Duke Ellington at the age of nine. He was introduced to jazz by listening to music every day from uncles and grandparents. He played drums, percussion, and vibraphone and sang in funk, R&B, and jazz groups, including The Soul Flamingos, Fontella Bass, Oliver Sain, Third Circuit & Spirit, Rainbow Glass, and Expression Jazz Quintet.

From age 15 to 17, Burrage was a member of No Commercial Potential with Mark Friedrick on keyboards, Darryl Mixon on bass, and Richie Daniels on guitar. They were the opening act for George Duke and Gino Vannelli. Burrage played in clubs, concerts, and venues, including the annual Afro Day in the Park in St. Louis. When he was 17, he moved to New York City and played with Lester Bowie, Defunkt, Teruo Nakamura, Roland Hanna, and Major Holley. In 1978, on a full music scholarship, he attended North Texas State University.

As a member of the St. Louis Metropolitan Jazz Quintet in the early 1980s, he worked with musicians coming through St. Louis, such as Arthur Blythe, Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean, and McCoy Tyner. After working with Woody Shaw, he founded an avant-garde jazz group named Third Kind of Blue with Anthony Cox and John Purcell. In the 1990s he recorded with Billy Bang, Hamiet Bluiett, Sonny Fortune, Courtney Pine, Gunther Schuller, and the World Saxophone Quartet.

The Burrage Ensemble was his first band, playing primarily in New York City from 1980–1983 and at jazz festivals in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Members were Kenny Kirkland, Marcus Miller, and Joe Ford. Other members of the ensemble included Rasul Siddik, Branford Marsalis, Avery Sharpe, Wynton Marsalis, and Wallace Roney.

At Jazzmobile from 1994–2002, he was instructor in drums and percussion while also teaching at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia from 1994 to 1996. He was a substitute instructor at The New School in New York City from 1992 to 2000. He is producer and artistic director at BlueNoise Studio in Frederick, Maryland. At Pennsylvania State University he teaches hip hop and culture, African- and African-American studies, and Integrative Arts.

As leader

As sideman

With Hamiet Bluiett

With Sonny Fortune

With Joe Locke

With Teruo Nakamura

With Daniel Schnyder

With Avery Sharpe

With Jarek Smietana

With Jack Walrath

With World Saxophone Quartet

With others