Ramon Alexander

Ramon Alexander is an award-winning pianist, and composer considered a leading exponent of Cape Jazz. He studied jazz piano under Merton Barrow at The Jazz Workshop in Cape Town after he finished high school. He however graduated with a B.Sc. Agric) from Stellenbosch University in 2004 in viticulture and oenology. 

Since he was selected in Makhanda as pianist for the Standard Bank National Youth Big Band in 2004, Alexander worked with a variety of artists such as American jazz icon Hubert Laws, Khaya Mahlangu, Robbie Jansen, Errol Dyers, McCoy Mrubata, Leslie Kleinsmith, Mark Hauser, Tuur Forizone, Frank Paco’s Art Ensemble, Japanese trumpet legend, Terumasa Hino and The Cape Jazz Band, led by veteran drummer Jack Momple. 

Besides participating in numerous local performance engagements, he has travelled Europe, Asia, and the USA. His ensemble has performed at numerous local and international music festivals, notably the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Journey to Jazz International Jazz Festival, Borneo International Jazz Festival, and The Darling Music Experience as well a residency at No Black Tie Jazz Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2019. Alexander has two albums to his credit (Picnic at Kontiki [2011] and Echoes from Louwskloof [2015]). In 2018, Mountain Records released Cape Jazz Piano. He’s also produced numerous recording projects across various genres, most notably Essence of Spring [2018] by Cape Town jazz icon Ibrahim Khalil Shihab. He is also a lecturer at Stellenbosch University’s music department where he currently heads their jazz division and regularly conducts jazz ensemble workshops for youth bands in the Western Cape. He is also an award-winning curator, producer, and musical director at numerous art festivals around South Africa. In 2024 he served on the National Youth Jazz Festival’s selection panel for the prestigious National Youth Band in Makhanda. Alexander is the National Schools conductor of 2025.