Ronnie Gardiner

Ronnie Gardiner banged on his mother’s pots and pans enough that it encouraged her to buy him a toy drum set for Christmas when he was not yet four years old. He played all throughout school and when he was 12 years old he was the youngest member of a jazz big band. Growing up in his hometown of Westerly, RI, Ronnie landed the position of drummer for the house band at Fiddler’s Three, a club that attracted seasoned jazz players. He later moved to Europe and played with a host of top-name jazz players such as Dexter Gordon and Zoot Sims. Ronnie played at the first International Swedish Jazz & Blues Festival in Stockholm back in 1980 with Gerry Mulligan. Other artists he played with at festivals in the rhythm section include Tommy Flanagan, Red Mitchell, Clark Terry and Johnny Griffin. His incredible career also included playing with Charlie Parker and later Dizzy Gillespie. In 1993, Ronnie developed what is now the Ronnie Gardiner Method for music therapy. He first worked with stroke victims, which has expanded into a full-scale method that is being applied to include people with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer's and developmental disabilities. Ronnie is proud of the impact his method has had and continues to improve the lives of patients around the world.