Cecil Ramirez

Cecil Ramirez Brings A Friend And Rocks The House
at "Jazz In The Mix"

The June 28th edition of Sacramento's weekly jazz series, "Jazz In The Mix", featured Cecil Ramirez and his band. After weeks of rehearsal with Lance Taber on guitar, Dave Kirkendall on bass, and John Armato on drums, the group was ready to bring a show to Mix Downtown. Just before the show, Cecil placed a call to "Jazz In The Mix" founder Grady O'Bryant and told him that he had "a special surprise" for him and the fans.

Days earlier, Cecil had met up with his good friend, Brian Culbertson, who was travelling through Northern CA on his way back home to Los Angeles. Cecil told Brian that he was headlining a club back in Sacramento, and casually invited BC to come to the gig. Cecil recalls "I didn't think BC would have time to make the drive over to Sac. But when I got an email from him Tuesday morning, I knew it was on. I told BC, 'people are going to be shocked'; I didn't even tell my band until we were loading in for the show. While BC and I were both still in our cars making the drive to downtown Sac, we were on our phones talking about doing some songs together, having him sit in with my band; he even said he wanted to play some drums on the gig. I was sure it was going to be a rockin' night."

With heavy rain closing Mix Downtown's outdoor lounge area, Cecil's fans and fellow local musicians packed the room early, unaware that they would be hearing some extra special music that evening. With a full house, the group took the stage and burned through Cecil's arrangement of fellow Sacramento jazz artist Roger Smith's classic tune "Hopscotch". The second tune up was BC's own "Say What?", a song that Brian and Cecil has played as a piano-only duet. After the first group of songs, Cecil welcomed the enthusiastic crowd and thanked them for coming out. Then, he unveiled his "special surprise" and introduced Brian to a stunned audience. The buzz spread like wildfire as the band jammed through the first set of R&B-infused original tunes and arrangements. Cecil and Lance were tight in playing doubled melody lines and trading intense solos, while Dave and John anchored funky up-tempo grooves that had the crowd bumping in their seats and on their feet.

On the second set, the group opened with Brian's tune "So Good". Cecil says "It's an amazing feeling to play a Brian Culbertson song with BC sitting right there watching, head nodding, totally into the groove. He has always been there supporting my playing and music, so I wanted to do his songs right by him." With the crowd heavily behind the band at the halfway point of the set, Cecil announced "This is the part of the show where we're gonna get a little crazy". They launched into BC's classic "Do You Really Love Me?", a song that Brian and Cecil had earlier planned on doing together in two parts. After blazing through the famous melody line and his own piano solo, Cecil broke down the groove. "I didn't even tell my band what we were going to do, it was all on the fly." He then brought Brian up to the stage, to the delight of the energized crowd. Brian took it from there with his superstar showmanship, working the band on some James Brown-like hits, then back into the bumping groove of the tune, and working the fans into a frenzy. After a big finish with the crowd on their feet yelling their approval, a pumped-up Brian ran over to shake hands with the band, ran back to Cecil, gave him a hug and yelled "What are you playing now?!!" Cecil recalls "That was when I knew he was having a good time, it was classic BC all lit up."

Two songs later, Cecil called up the Jeff Lorber classic "Tune 88".  Cecil says "Before the set, I told BC, 'hey let's do the Lorber song, Tune 88'. B said 'I don't know that one'; I said 'yes you do, it's like a straight 12-bar blues with a twist on the end' and he said 'OK, let's do it.'" Brian and Cecil were both at the keyboards, trading melodies and fills. From the stage, Cecil recalls "BC was playing my Nord Electro 3 and I was on my Korg Wavestation. During the song, I looked out into the crowd; the sight of everyone with their arms raised, holding a smartphone, video camera, cellphone, anything that they could record with, was simply amazing." After the solos, the band broke the song down; BC went over and traded places with John on the drums. Cecil says "I knew he played drums but in all the time I've known him, I had never jammed with him behind a kit. Dude can definitely play." With BC on drums, the band dropped into a deep funky jam with spotlight solos for everyone. Another big finish, and the room was on their feet wanting more.

"I saved the most challenging tunes for the end of the gig and we wanted to finish big" Cecil says of their last two songs. The band launched into a funky version the classic Jeff Lorber tune "Watersign". BC sat in the front row with the fans, into the groove and having a great time. While he was done playing, he wasn't done showing his support for the band. As Dave launched into his bass solo, BC snuck around behind the amps and slowly pushed Dave towards the center of the stage and into the spotlight. Cecil says "One of my favorite moments during the gig. I've known Dave for years and he's always been a little shy about soloing. So it was a great thing to see BC getting him out in front." Cecil and the group finished off the evening with "Kisses Don't Lie" from his CD "Talk To The Hand". The band left it all on the stage with a hugely supportive crowd that stayed at Mix Downtown to the end of the evening.

The music that came from the jam session with Cecil Ramirez, his band, and Brian Culbertson made for one of the most memorable evenings at "Jazz In The Mix". The day after the concert, Cecil tweeted: "@brianculbertson You da man! Thanks for jamming w us & lighting it up last night; it was incredible."  And BC tweeted: "@cecilramirez you were killin up there!!! Good times  :)"

IJAMS Jazz Cruise 2011 Completes Maiden Voyage

The Carnival Freedom docked at Ft. Lauderdale on the morning of Feb 6, 2011, completing the successful maiden voyage of the 2011 IJAMS Jazz Cruise.  The IJAMS entourage & Carnival Freedom jazz fans were treated to inspired jazz performances with 6 shows by the IJAMS artists, LeNora Jaye (vocals), Damon Williams (vocals), Dean James (sax), Cecil Ramirez (keyboards), Ian Villafana (guitar), Buddy Jordan (bass), and Jere B (drums).

The IJAMS artists were also seen throughout the cruise jamming with the onboard Carnival musicians.  There was no shortage of great jazz music on the inaugural IJAMS Cruise. Congratulations and "thank you" to Jerome Widman of Triple J Productions and their sponsors for putting on a great show!  Watch for the announcement of the next IJAMS Cruise!

Cecil Performs With Brian Culbertson at NAMM 2011

Smooth jazz pianists Brian Culbertson and Cecil Ramirez performed together at the annual National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show in Anaheim, CA, playing two pianos on the Lounge 88 stage in a set sponsored by PianoDisc and Mason & Hamlin.  Brian & Cecil opened the show with burning 4-hand versions of BC's hits "Say What?" and "Do You Really Love Me?".  They continued with the ballad "Our Love"; Brian then played a solo piano version of "Forever" from his current album XII.  Brian and Cecil finished their two piano performance with "Serpentine Fire", with BC bringing down the house with a trombone solo to close out the show.

IJAMS Cruise Set to Sail At The End of January 2011!

The musician lineup for the first annual Independent Jazz Artists & Musicians Showcase (IJAMS) Jazz Cruise is all set!  Featured artists are Buddy Jordan on bass, Cecil Ramirez on keys, Damon Williams on vocals, Dean James on sax, Ian Villafana on guitar, Jere B on drums, and LeNora Jaye on vocals.

IJAMS Cruise Sails The Caribbean in January 2011

Cecil will be part of the first annual Independent Jazz Artists & Musicians Showcase (IJAMS) Jazz Cruise, Jan 29 to Feb 6, 2011.  The 8-day cruise will be aboard the Carnival Freedom, sailing from Fort Lauderdale to San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, & Nassau.  Headlining with Cecil on the IJAMS Jazz Cruise is Damon Williams (vocals), Dean James (sax), Ian Villafana (guitar), Buddy Jordan (bass), Jere B (drums) & LeNora Jaye (vocals).  The seven artists will be playing great smooth jazz music including songs from Cecil's album Talk To The Hand and his new upcoming CD, Dean's albums Love Takes Time and Brighter Days, Ian's album Epiphany, Buddy's album Did Somebody Say Bass?, music from the albums Inspire and Endurance by Jere B and his group, "SounDoctrine", and songs from LeNora Jaye's album Taking Over.

The founder of IJAMS, Jerome "Triple J" Widman, is a radio personality with KZCT 89.5 FM in Vallejo, CA and the host for the IJAMS Jazz Cruise.  In putting together the IJAMS Jazz Cruise, Triple J has a vision for introducing independent jazz artists to the public and promoting their music.  He says "The goal of IJAMS is to give listeners exposure to talented smooth jazz artists who aren't able to get airplay, either because the local smooth jazz station won't carry their music, or there is no local station to give their albums airplay."  On his two weekly KZCT radio shows, Triple J plays the most current music from independent artists around the world.  The shows are also streamed to the Internet; the video stream includes a chat room where listeners can interact directly with Triple J and jazz artists who appear live with him in the studio.

Sign up for the IJAMS Jazz Cruise 2011 by clicking the link for The Jazzy Spot.

Cecil Performs With Brian Culbertson

In July 2010, smooth jazz pianist Brian Culbertson appeared in concert at The Piano Warehouse in northern San Diego, supporting a Mason & Hamlin Piano Event.  Cecil appeared with Brian, with both artists playing M&H Model BB grand pianos, performing two-piano arrangements of popular BC hits including "Do You Really Love Me" and "Serpentine Fire".

Talk To The Hand #8 Favorite Album in Canada

Talk To The Hand is listed as the #8 album among the 2009 Favorite albums on Cafe' Jazz Radio, Canada's Smooth Jazz Connection.  Cecil is listed at #14 on Cafe' Jazz Radio's listing of Top 50 Artists.  On the chart of Top 50 Selections, Cecil's song "Falling Through Time" ranked at #4 and "Rio De Maio" ranked at #16.