Friday Night!
Ronnie Burrage has played with everyone. It's no exaggeration to say that few people on the planet have played with as many great jazz musicians as Ronnie. When he was under ten years old, he got to work with Duke Ellington. And it just never stopped. If you read Sonny Rollins' book, Saxophone Collosus, Ronnie is mentioned dozens of times. He has played with Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, John Hicks, Hamiet Bluiett, Lester Bowie and Joseph Bowie. Ronnie was a founding member of the group Defunkt. His working relationships continued to grow with bassist’s Teruo Nakamura, and Major Holley and the virtuosic pianist Sir Roland Hanna. Ronnie’s career thrust into notoriety by working with Sonny Fortune, which led to his three-year stint with McCoy Tyner. During this time he also worked with Sonny Rollins, Pat Metheny, Jackie McLean, Aurther Blythe and many others. After working with trumpet Woody Shaw, Burrage founded an “avant-garde jazz” group named “Third Kind of Blue” with bassist Anthony Cox and saxophonist John Purcell. In the 1990’s, he began producing and recording artist like, violinist Billy Bang, saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett and The World Saxophone Quartet. He’s recorded with Courtney Pine, hornist and composer Gunther Schuller, and saxophonist Julius Hemphill’s notable recording, “Big Band". And that's only a partial music biography. One could write a book about the people Ronnie has played with, and perhaps someday he will. Ronnie has played with everyone!
Ronnie is excited to come home to St. Louis to put on three shows for his hometown fans. Friday night will be Ronnie's quartet playing what they normally play. This is Ronnie playing with the musicians that he has played with the most, doing what they love to do. You can expect anything and everything from the history of jazz music. But the one thing that you can be most certain of, is that it will be smokin'! These cats are gonna groove hard and swing high! It's gonna be deep, beautiful and extremely spiritual. Open your heart and let this quartet fill you with light. Tears will be shed, and wounds will be healed. Your nervous system will be exhilarated and your brain will be firing on all cylinders. You won't know exactly what happened to you until days later. This is the deep groove, baby. Let it wash over you!
A word on the ticket prices:
There are discounted seats for SLU students that are totally free of charge. If you select this option, all people using these seats MUST present a SLU ID at the door before being allowed to enter. Please do not try to play games with this. You will be turned away if you do not have proper ID. No excuses will be heard.
There are discounted seats for senior citizens, veterans and college students. Again, proper ID must be presented at the door. A driver's license showing that you are 65 or over, an ID showing that you are a veteran of the military, or a college ID issued by the school must be presented for entry with this ticket. If you do not have the proper ID, you will not be allowed in with this ticket.
