Gene Ramey

Gene Ramey ( April 4, 1913 in Austin, Texas, † December 8, 1984, ibid ) was an American jazz bassist.

Ramey first played in the school band ( Anderson High School) trumpet and sousaphone then at " George Corley 's Royal Aces ". After he had in 1932 drawn ( with the Band by Terrence Holder) to Kansas City and how many by traveling musician was captivated by the vibrant jazz scene in the city, he learned bass with Walter Page and played in partially own local bands before 1938 to 1943 played mainly at Jay McShann. After the dissolution of the band, he went to New York, where he worked with many well-known jazz greats, including former " Kansas City colleagues " as Ben Webster, Lester Young, Hot Lips Page and Charlie Parker ( also a former Jay McShann band member ) played, and with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, Luis Russell, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Dizzy Gillespie. Also in the 1950s he worked mostly freelance, including for Count Basie and Eartha Kitt. In 1953 he was among the first jazz messengers of Art Blakey and Horace Silver and played in 1954 with Art Blakey. In 1955 he appeared at the side of Lee Konitz and Lennie Tristano in New York; the recordings were released on the album Lennie Tristano on Atlantic. 1959 and 1961 he was on a European tour with Buck Clayton.

In the 1960s, he also played with such diverse musicians like Teddy Wilson ( 1963), Muggsy Spanier (1962), Peanuts Hucko, Jimmy Rushing and 1969 again with Jay McShann ( and Eddie " Cleanhead " Vinson ) on a European tour ( and again 1979). In 1976, he went to his home city of Austin in Texas, where he actually wanted to retire, but was then quickly pulled back into the local jazz scene, which he founded to promote as a teacher helped.