Ronald Bruner, Jr.

Virtuosic, Grammy-winning drummer Ronald Bruner, Jr. has moved skillfully across varying settings, whether supporting upper-tier jazz musicians like Kenny Garrett and Stanley Clarke, playing with skatepunk pioneers Suicidal Tendencies, or recording his own brand of modern fusion. The son of fellow drummer Ronald and the eldest brother of Stephen (aka Thundercat) and Jameel, the Compton, California native arrived around the turn of the 2000s and developed into one of his generation's most scholarly and creative players. As a teenager, Bruner attended the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which kick-started his professional work. He went on to record and/or perform with the likes of Garrett, Clarke, Marcus Miller, George Duke, and Lee Ritenour. Early on, he also took part in Young Jazz Giants with Thundercat, Cameron Graves, and Kamasi Washington. As a member of the Stanley Clarke Band, he became a Grammy winner when that unit's self-titled album -- which featured a composition he wrote with the leader -- took the 2011 award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Bruner's momentum carried well into the latter half of the 2010s. Most notably, he contributed to several acclaimed, genre-spanning albums, all of which came out of Los Angeles -- Flying Lotus' You're Dead!, Washington's The Epic, and Terrace Martin's Grammy-nominated Velvet Portraits among them. In 2017, Bruner released his own album, Triumph, on the World Galaxy label. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi