He is a session drummer, author and teacher born in Berkeley, California, who is much in demand in the Los Angeles, California, area.
He studied at the California State College in Northridge and while where recorded with The Don Ellis Big Band in 1968. He joined up with them full-time in 1969 and remained with them for around four years until leaving in 1973 to join Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention. Staying with them for a year be branched out as a freelancer and then in 1982 joined the band Free Flight. Towards the end of the 1980s he took up touring with the Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra.
In the last three decades has performed with acts such as Tony Bennett, Michael Buble, Captain & Tennille, Richard Carpenter, Natalie Cole, Clare Fischer, David Foster, John Klemmer, The Manhattan Transfer, Bette Midler, Carmen McRae, The Muppets, David Newman, Seals & Crofts and Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention.
The many albums he has appeared on include Mujer by Shirley Bassey, And So Is Love by Rita Coolidge, Everything Must Change by Randy Crawford, Earth Songs by John Denver, Shock Treatment by Don Ellis, Dr. Heckle & Mr. Jive by England Dan & John Ford Coley, Me Enamore by Jose Feliciano, This Time by Al Jarreau, Mancini’s Angels by Henry Mancini and Love Like Ours by Barbra Streisand. His talents are also very much sought after in the television, film and commercial industry where he has worked on shows such as American Idol, Animaniacs, Charmed, Dancing With the Stars, Dawson’s Creek. Deep Space Nine, King of the Hill, Pinky & The Brain, The Simpsons and Star Trek Enterprise and Voyager, movies that include A League of Their Own, Piglet’s Big Movie, Swing Kids and Wired and commercials for Ping golf clubs and Coca-Cola. As an author on the subject of drumming, he has written several articles for the magazine Modern Drummer and the book Even in the Odds.
In the field of musical education he gives private tuition and is a Department Chair at the Los Angeles Music Academy along with Joe Porcaro of Toto. They also worked together with on the creation and design of the drum program for the Percussion Institute of Technology where he held the position of Department Head from 1980-1996. Alongside teaching, today he performs with a band called Babaghanoush and the guitarists Mike Miller and Prasanna Ramaswamy.
The Manhattan Transfer Recordings
Body and Soul (Edward Heyman/Johnny Green/Robert Sour/Frank Eyton)
Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone (Marius Constant/Jay Graydon/Alan Paul)
Here he is on drums with Chris Standring…
Sources:
- http://www.drumsoloartist.com/Site/Drummers3/Ralph_Humphrey.html
- http://www.lamusicacademy.com/departments/drums/instructors.asp
- http://www.united-mutations.com/h/ralph_humphrey.htm
- http://www.yamaha.com/Artists/ArtistDetail/0,,CNTID%25253D31515%252526CTID%25253D551076%252526CNTYP%25253DARTIST,00.html#
- http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Ralph_Humphrey.html
- http://www.allaboutjazz.com/ralphhumphrey
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fnfoxqu5ldae~T4
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fnfoxqu5ldae~2~T40B