Ramon de Bruyn

About Ramon:

Raised in Stellenbosch, South Africa, before moving to Cape Town, Ramon started out playing guitar and picked up the electric bass at the age of 13. While pursuing his Bachelor of Music Degree (with Honors) at the University of Cape Town, he started studying the double bass and piano. While in South Africa, he regularly performed with top artists like Sibongile Khumalo, Winston Mankunku, Neo Muyanga, Deborah Tanguy, and Frank Paco, as well been part of various ensembles ranging from the South African National Youth Jazz Band, Darryl Andrews Latin Tentet, Mike Campbell Big Band, the Glenn Robertson Jazz Band, to the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra.

In 2006, Ramon was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue his Master's degree in Jazz Performance at New York University. He currently resides in New York, where he has studied with John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, George Garzone, Wayne Krantz, Mike Richmond, Gil Goldstein, Jean-Michel Pilc and David Schroeder.

Ramon has performed with a stellar group of musicians including Grammy-award winning artists such as Joe Lovano (Jazz Saxophone), Badal Roy (Tabla), Arturo O’Farrill (Latin-Jazz Piano), Daniel Moreno (Percussion), and Herman Moreno (Flamenco guitar). Other distinguished artists that Ramon has performed with include: Lenny Pickett (Saturday Night Live band director and former member of Tower of Power), Kenny Werner, Bobby Shew, Tierney Sutton, Sibongile Khumalo, Tony Sedras (keyboard player for Paul Simon), Kathleen Grace, Jean-Michel Pilc, Lisa Harrington, Andy Milne, Eva Allyon, Neo Muyanga, Winston Mankunku, Gabriel Alegria, Joel Holmes, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, South African National Youth Jazz Band.

Having performed at numerous festivals and venues around the world from the Blue Note in New York City to the Stockholm Jazz Festival; the Jazz Festival Internationale in Lima, Peru to the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference in Toronto; the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (formerly the North Sea Cape Town) to Joe’s Pub in NYC, Ramon is now based in New York City. He continues to tour and perform in front of thousands, while balancing teaching and various studio-recording dates into his schedule.

Ramon is currently on tour with Blitz the Ambassador as musical director and bassplayer.

Videos:

The Flight of the Bumblebee



Donna Lee - Solo Bass