Roger "Ram" Ramirez (September 15, 1913 – 11 January 1994) was a Puerto Rican

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pianist and composer. He was a co-composer of the song "

Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?) "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)" (often called simply "Lover Man") is a 1941 popular song written by Jimmy Davis, Roger ("Ram") Ramirez, and James Sherman. It is particularly associated with Billie Holiday, for whom it was written, and her ...

Early life

Ramirez was born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

on September 15, 1913. He grew up in New York and started playing the piano at a young age.

Later life and career

Ramirez's first professional performances were in the early 1930s. In 1933 he played with

Monette Moore Monette Moore (May 19, 1902 in Gainesville, Texas – October 21, 1962 in Garden Grove, California) was an American jazz and classic female blues singer. Background Moore was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She taught herself to play the ...

, then with

Rex Stewart Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra. Career As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart dro ...

and

Sid Catlett Sidney "Big Sid" Catlett (January 17, 1910 – March 25, 1951) was an American jazz drummer. Catlett was one of the most versatile drummers of his era, adapting with the changing music scene as bebop emerged. Early life Catlett was born in Eva ...

in New York. He joined

Willie Bryant William Stevens Bryant (August 30, 1908 – February 9, 1964) was an American jazz bandleader, vocalist, and disc jockey, known as the "Mayor of Harlem". Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, while growing up he took trumpet lesso ...

in 1935, and toured Europe with Bobby Martin in 1937. During the first half of the 1940s Ramirez played with

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

Frankie Newton Frankie Newton ( William Frank Newton; January 4, 1906 – March 11, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter from Emory, Virginia, United States. He played in several New York City bands in the 1920s and 1930s, including those led by Lloyd Scott, ...

Charlie Barnet Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. His major recordings were "Nagasaki", "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "South ...

, John Kirby, and Catlett, in addition to leading his own band. Ramirez wrote "

" in 1942, which became a jazz standard following

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

's recording of it two years later. He was a freelance into the mid-1950s, when he added electronic organ to his instruments. In 1953 he was in one of Duke Ellington's small groups, as a substitute. Ramirez again toured Europe in 1968, this time with

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

. In 1979 and 1980 he was part of the

Harlem Blues and Jazz Band The Harlem Blues and Jazz Band is a jazz ensemble active since the 1970s. The band was initiated by Al Vollmer in 1973, noting that a significant pool of jazz musicians who had played in the 1920s and 1930s lived in New York City and had retire ...

, including for appearances in Germany. He also freelanced after this, and retired for health reasons in 1987. Ramirez was married to Marcy and had a daughter. He died of kidney failure in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York City on January 11, 1994.

Discography (selection)

* Ram Ramirez: ''Live in Harlem'' (Black & Blue) * Ram Ramirez: "Fine and Mellow" (RCA) (as "Roger Ram") * Ram Ramirez: "I'll Remember April" (RCA) (as "Roger Ram") *

Putney Dandridge Louis "Putney" Dandridge (January 13, 1902 – February 15, 1946) was an American jazz pianist and singer. Career Born in Richmond, Virginia, United States, Dandridge began performing in 1918 as a pianist in a revue entitled ''The Drake and Wal ...

: 1935–1936 (Classics) * ''The Duke's Men – Small Groups, Vol. 1'' (Columbia, 1934–38) *

: 1939–1940 (Classics) *

Helen Humes Helen Humes (June 23, 1913 – September 13, 1981) was an American singer. She was a blues, R&B and classic popular singer. Early life Humes was born on June 23, 1913, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Emma Johnson and John Henry Humes. She grew up ...

: 1945–1946 (Classics) * John Kirby: 1945–1946 (Classics) *

Ike Quebec Ike Abrams Quebec (August 17, 1918January 16, 1963) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He began his career in the big band era of the 1940s, then fell from prominence for a time until launching a comeback in the years before his death. Crit ...

: 1944–1946 (Classics), ''The Blue Note Swingtets'' (Blue Note, 1944) *

: 1934–1946 (Classics) *

Annie Ross Annie Ross (born Annabelle Allan Short; 25 July 193021 July 2020) was a British-American singer and actress, best known as a member of the influential jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. She helped pioneer the vocalese style of jazz sin ...

King Pleasure King Pleasure (born Clarence Beeks; March 24, 1922 – March 21, 1982) was an American jazz vocalist and an early master of vocalese, where a singer sings words to a well-known instrumental solo. Biography Born as Clarence Beeks in Oakdale, ...

: ''Sings'' (OJC, 1952, 1953)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramirez, Ram 1913 births 1994 deaths American musicians of Puerto Rican descent American male songwriters American jazz pianists American male jazz pianists American male jazz composers American jazz composers Jazz-blues pianists Musicians from San Juan, Puerto Rico 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians Harlem Blues and Jazz Band members Black & Blue Records artists 20th-century jazz composers