Dr. Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr.

As part of Painted Bride’s mission to amplify fearless voices and affirm jazz as a living archive of resilience, resistance, and renewal, we are honored to welcome Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. as a distinguished panelist in a pre-show conversation with Anthony Tidd, moderated by J. Michael Harrison.

A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Ramsey is a music historian, pianist, composer, and Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Who Hears Here: On Black Music Pasts and Present; The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History and the Challenge of Bebop; Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop; and Soundproof: Black Music’s American Journey from the Civil War to Civil Rights (forthcoming).

Ramsey has released six recording projects, including A Spiritual Vibe, vol. 1 and Race Music 21: etudes/grooves/interludes. His performance credits include The Blue Note, The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and Harlem Stage. He has composed scores for the documentary Making Sweet Tea (2019), the choreopoem The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body (2024), and Beat Chick: Tunes for Hettie Jones for string quartet, jazz vocalist, and digital beats.

His curatorial and advisory work includes Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment and serving as consultant for the 2020 Emmy Award–winning documentary Apollo: The Soul of American Culture.

Through his scholarship, performance, and public engagement, Ramsey embodies the Bride’s legacy of connecting past and present, bridging scholarship and sound, and inspiring future generations through music and story.