Kennard Ramsey, Somos at Roxboro Launch

You may not know his name but I guarantee you have heard his music. Kennard Ramsey has contributed to some of our favorite movies, television shows and commercials.

His friendship and collaboration with Stanley Clarke spans decades. When Stanley started his label, Roxboro Entertainment, he convinced Kennard to record his own music and share it with us.

We had the opportunity to hear it first-hand, up-close and personal, and I had the best seat in the house.

Click through for the videos!

I’m a guitar player. To watch a composer play his written piece is something else. They think differently than we do.

Though my wife may argue with this, I tend to write songs that I can actually play. Watching Kennard Ramsey you can see he sometimes writes and then has to play it.

Interesting perspective and I’ll learn from that. His inimitable style, from his hat to his fingertips (this from a dedicated hat guy with sore fingertips), flows through his music.

He plays with a subtle panache that reflects his soft-spoken manner and wry wit. Another cool thing about composers is how they interact with the band. Watching this star-studded “backline” thoroughly enjoy themselves, some reading it live on-the-spot, made Kennard’s portion of the show simply fun to watch. Considering the different “styles” they played with that night they each, in their own right, deserved to be up front. Tonight was about Roxboro, though, and they helped make it clear just how good the first four artists on the label are. When a musician can relax, confident in his accompanying companions’ skills, it lets them focus on their own play. When the backline performs like these guys it makes you play better, and when you’re lucky and the crowd is right and the moment is right, you make magic. I’m just glad we were there so we can share it with you.