MY STORY
Ryan Marquez is a pianist, composer, producer, songwriter, arranger, vocalist, bandleader, teaching artist, and cultural worker whose genre-fluid practice is rooted in the musical continuum of Kansas City and St. Louis—a creative corridor he calls the “Confluence of Cool.” Drawing from jazz, blues, gospel, soul, R&B, hip-hop, pop, and sacred sound, he creates music as a vessel for healing, unity, justice, remembrance, and connection across generations.
Marquez’s relationship with Missouri’s musical lineage began at Kansas City’s Mayfield Towns Memorial Blues Jams. As a fifth-grade pianist and vocalist, he appeared at the 1997 Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival; he also performed in two Kansas City Chiefs halftime shows at Arrowhead Stadium while still a child. In 2005, he moved to St. Louis to study jazz piano at Webster University, beginning a multidisciplinary career encompassing performance, recording, composition, production, theater, film, education, mentorship, and community-centered collaboration.
His autobiographical RAM Album Trilogy—I AM RAM (2020), LIFE OF RAM (2022), and LEGEND OF RAM (2026)—documents his emotional, spiritual, and artistic evolution from instrumentalist and producer to vocalist and rapper ConsciousKeys. Released on August 11, 2026, LEGEND OF RAM completes this deeply personal collection of “heart records.” His multidisciplinary project E.N.U.F. (2025) expanded an original concept album through visual art, projection, and immersive technology, while Saint Unity (2022) brought together more than 20 St. Louis artists around themes of peace, protest, perseverance, and community.
Marquez made his debut as a composer for theater with Eleventh Hour Radio (2026), co-written with playwright Colin McLaughlin and produced by Action Art Collaborative. Critics praised the production’s memorable, genre-blending score and its ability to move audiences between elation and reflection. His socially engaged practice also includes original music and underscoring for Action, a theatrical work examining the unmaking of St. Louis’s Veiled Prophet tradition, and commissioned compositions honoring legendary St. Louis civil rights activist Percy Green II.
Supported by the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis, Marquez’s forthcoming project The Sound of Action builds upon those collaborations through a full-length album, documentary media, and public programming inspired by activism, civic memory, resistance, and the continuing struggle for social change. Developed in collaboration with Percy Green, Action Art Collaborative, and members of the Solid Sound Collective, the project reflects Marquez’s commitment to using music as both a historical record and a catalyst for dialogue.
His recent recording work includes Magic Moments (2026), a collaboration with acclaimed vocalist, bassist, and bandleader Janet Evra featuring Marquez’s arrangements and the Ryan Marquez Trio. The album reimagines 12 compositions from the Burt Bacharach catalog and features nine-time GRAMMY Award winner and NEA Jazz Master Randy Brecker. Marquez also appears on Hidden Beach Recordings’ Unwrapped Vol. 9: The Music of Kendrick Lamar (2025), produced by Anthony “Brew” Brewster and the House of Vibe All Stars and featuring internationally acclaimed pianist Jesús Molina.
In 2025, Marquez stepped in without rehearsal to perform Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience with the Kansas City Symphony and musicians associated with the Ground Zero Blues Club. His broader performance and recording credits include collaborations with Terence Blanchard, Fred Wesley, Kirk Whalum, Ernie Isley, Chance the Rapper, Wiz Khalifa, Nelly, Ruthie Foster, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Michael McDonald, Delfeayo Marsalis, Bobby Watson, and other internationally recognized artists.
Marquez’s keyboard work appears on Dylan Triplett’s Who Is He?, recipient of the 2023 Blues Music Award for Best Emerging Artist Album. His original composition “Playground,” featuring Flare Tha Rebel, was named the number-one song of 2022 by Kansas City radio station 90.9 The Bridge. His music has also received more than 20 television and media placements across MTV, VH1, BET, The CW, ESPN, E!, FOX, and Nickelodeon.
In 2026, Marquez was selected as an artist-in-residence for Kansas City’s Art in the Loop program, presenting original work inspired by home, ancestry, memory, and the cultural connections between Kansas City and St. Louis. That same year, he presented original music with his trio at the Central West End Jazz & Blues Festival and St. Louis’s Festival of Nations. He is also a former Kranzberg Arts Foundation artist-in-residence and a recipient of multiple Regional Arts Commission grants.
Marquez extends his creative practice through education, cultural preservation, mentorship, and arts leadership. Since 2025, he has presented Missouri Memory Cafés at Kirkwood Public Library and Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia, guiding participants experiencing memory loss through a sonic “memory museum” of Missouri music, familiar favorites, storytelling, and reminiscence. Throughout his career, he has mentored hundreds of young musicians and served as a teaching artist with organizations including Jazz St. Louis and HEAL Center for the Arts.
He serves on the board of the Gospel Music Institute, facilitates the Artists INC professional-development program for Mid-America Arts Alliance, and works with Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts as a facilitator for its Upstart program. A Recording Academy voting member, ASCAP songwriter and publisher, and Missouri Arts Council Touring Performer, Ryan Marquez carries Missouri’s musical legacy forward through work rooted in place, experimentation, collaboration, and meaningful storytelling.