BIOGRAPHY
Ronell was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois with a musical upbringing. His mother was a trumpet player in the jazz and marching bands at both Du Sable and Englewood High School
on the South Side of Chicago.
She raised Ronell in an environment that was prevailed by the culture of music. He experienced music from a confluence of cultures in just about every aspect of his life growing up,
He received his first instrument, a horn at the age of four. At age ten he joined the boy scouts and became a member of the drum and bugle corp. This is where he began to learn the mechanics of blowing the horn and the principles of rhythm and sounds.
Surrounded by such genres as Gospel, which was always present in his grandparents’ home, and Blues and R&B that was ever present in his mother’s home—it was typical for Ronell to groove right along with them.
Today, there’s nothing typical about him. In person and on stage, he’s got a smooth laid back panache, but it’s laced with
a timeless humility and grace.
Musically, as a trumpeter he’s been dazzling audiences for over 30 years with his supercharged tone, creative and bop-flavored flurries way up in the trumpet's highest register. In slower numbers, he sports a golden, mellow tone on the horn, marked with a sure, subtle sense of swing.
Blessed with a unique natural jazz voice that features warm
tones mixed with gruff vocals that could express any degree
of loneliness or exuberance, Ronell redefines what’s possible within Jazz as he upholds its tradition.