Cuban drummer, Ramses Rodriguez, has recorded and toured with the who’s who of Cuban bands and singers including, Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Chucho Valdés, and Robert Fonseca.
Havana born and raised, Rodriquez grew up in a neighborhood where music and percussion was everywhere, every moment of the day. This seeped into his skin, which led him to study classical music at the Amador Roldán Music School. These studies opened up a well of creativity and boldness to develop his own style combining his roots and other influences from world musics.
Major artists saw his unique voice and added it to their recordings, from
Chucho Valdés New Conception, Omara Portuondo Flor de Amor, Ibrahim Ferrer Mi Sueño, Roberto Fonseca Zamazu, Akokan, and Yo. Each album earned either a GRAMMY nomination or an award.
Now based in Los Angeles, Rodriquez has performed with American and world artists David Sanchez, Roy Hargrove, Joe Lovano, Gilles Peterson, Fatoumata Diawara, Regina Carter, Anat Cohen, Mayra Andrade, among others.
In 2017, he was handpicked to perform in the annual International Day Jazz global all-star concert in Havana. This concert was broadcast across Cuba; in America on PBS and BET TV; and streamed live internationally reaching over 1 billion people around the world. Jazz Day in Havana included an all-star line-up led by Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, Marcus Miller, Kenny Garrett, Dhafer Youssef, Richard Bona, Youn Sun Nah, Antonio Sanchez, Chucho Valdés, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Roberto Fonseca, under the musical direction John Beasley.