Ramsey
Knows Records
As told to James Oyedijo
It is rare to meet someone who is passionate about something.
It is even rarer to find someone who has made a living out of
that thing they are passionate about. Two years ago, my friends
Ali and Hashim had a show at the University of Wisconsin. I went
along for the ride. I got into an extended conversation about
music with their drummer, Ramsey Jones.
You couldn't get a record past this guy. That would have already
been enough to make him my hero, but when I heard him drum later
on at the concert, I was completely blown away. I never heard
a drummer so rhythmic and funky. After the concert I bumped into
him on occasion at his two jobs (Tower Records in the Village
and RockitScientist, an amazing record store on St. Marks Place)
but I never got the opportunity to talk to him about music. A
few months ago I finally caught up with him and we grabbed some
lunch at the Madras Café (great vegetarian spot by the
way).
R: I started listening to music at a very young age. That's the
thing about my family, we were musically inclined. My parents
told me that I used to take a 45" record and play it on a
Coca-Cola bottle. So at that time, this was around '68-'69, I
was listening to the Temptations' Psychedelic Shack and James
Brown's Live at the Apollo. I was 5 years old. Those records had
a profound impact on me. What made me decide to be a musician
was seeing Jimi Hendrix on television. I saw footage of him with
all these girls and he looked cool. I wanted to know more about
this guy. So my father bought the album Are You Experienced.
I remember listening to that record and I was like, "Shit
that's what I want to be, man!" I kept looking at the cover
of Are You Experienced and I was like, "I want to
be that guy."
I remember banging on Tupperware, pots and pans. My mother and
my father encouraged it. I had an older cousin named Bill, who
had a drum set and I was seeing live bands play. People forget
that besides the deejays that were spinning in the park, there
were bands that were playing, too.
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