Jamison Ross is more than a GRAMMY Award-winning soul artist, songwriter, producer, and musician. He is a storyteller, a groove architect, and a torchbearer of timeless soul. With a voice as smooth as velvet and a touch on the drums that speaks straight to the heart, Ross bridges the past and the future, blending the rich traditions of R&B, Gospel, Jazz, and Blues with a fresh, contemporary edge. His music channels the spirit of artists such as Marvin Gaye, Rance Allen, and Al Green while continuing to shape a sound that is uniquely and unmistakably his own.
Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Ross developed his musical foundation at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts before attending Florida State University and the University of New Orleans, where he earned a Master of Music. In 2012, he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition for Jazz Drums, now known as the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Competition.
His debut album, Jamison, earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album, introducing audiences to Ross as a distinctive singer, songwriter, drummer, and bandleader. His subsequent releases, including All for One and JAMO, have continued to expand his artistic voice and his ability to move seamlessly between jazz, soul, R&B, gospel, and contemporary Black American music.
Ross is also a member of the GRAMMY Award-winning collective Snarky Puppy, with whom he performs and records internationally. His work with the group includes projects such as Live in Rio, Family Dinner Volume 2, Immigrance and the GRAMMY-winning Empire Central.
In 2019, Ross co-founded Affective Music with business partner David S. Hargrett, creating a record label and artist development company focused on developing artists and shaping the sound of soul for a new generation. The label’s first release, Mykal Kilgore’s “Let Me Go,” earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance. Ross’ work as a producer has continued across numerous projects, most notably Avery*Sunshine’s So Glad to Know You, which earned him a GRAMMY Award for Best Progressive R&B Album. His collaborations have also included work with artists such as Gabrielle Cavassa, Jon Batiste, Boz Scaggs, Tank and the Bangas, and PJ Morton.
Ross has now brought that depth of real-world creative experience into higher education as the Alvin “Red” Tyler Endowed Professor of Music at LSU New Orleans. For Ross, education and artistry are extensions of the same mission: honoring the lineage while developing individual voices and helping shape what’s next.
Whether performing onstage, producing in the studio, writing songs, mentoring young artists, or teaching the next generation at LSU New Orleans, Jamison Ross continues to demonstrate that music is not simply something to preserve. It is alive, evolving, and capable of speaking to every generation.
“Remo is the only choice for me. The sound of Remo is the sound I grew up hearing. It’s connected to the very foundation of the modern drum set and the legacy of the drummers who shaped its history. To me, you cannot tell the story of the modern drum set without Remo. That quintessential sound, the sound that inspired generations of drummers, lives in Remo. It’s more than a drumhead. It’s a connection to the source, to the history, and to the sound that made me fall in love with the instrument.” -Jamison Ross
