Raised in California and North Carolina, Jeff Ryan was born around so much music that it was begging him to play. His dad is a classical concert pianist, his mom played tracker organ and viola, his grandpa was a music teacher. Jeff started playing piano at age six and took violin lessons, but he knew he had found his true musical home when he started on the sax at age ten. Ryan was in jazz ensembles throughout school, but it was studying his musical mentors – among others Richard Elliot, Grover Washington, Cannonball Adderley, Wes Montgomery or Lee Ritenour – that led to developing a truly unique style of performing. He attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston as a performance major and later studied music production at the Pyramind Sound Institute in San Francisco. After years of playing in regional soul, funk and big band ensembles, Jeff has captivated thousands with his robust, heartfelt vibe at numerous jazz festivals, where he has opened and performed along with urban jazz greats Marion Meadows, Eric Darius, Paul Taylor and Nick Colionne. In 2018, Jeff released his debut album. His producer and writing partner was Greg Manning.