Ralph MacDonald

Ralph MacDonaldFew have the power and versatility of percussionist Ralph MacDonald. At the turn of the century, Ralph will mark a 30 year anniversary as an endorser for Latin Percussion. LP Founder Martin Cohen began bringing prototypes of instruments for MacDonald to play in the 1970's. "There has always been a real camaraderie of company, product and player at LP," says MacDonald.

MacDonald's first big break was with Harry Belafonte, which led to work with artists like Ashford & Simpson, the Bee Gees, David Bowie, Brecker Brothers, Hall & Oates, Billy Joel, Bob James, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, and Steely Dan, to name a few. Since 1988 most of his time on the road has been with Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reef Band.

Some people may not know of MacDonald's great success as a songwriter, he co-wrote the Roberta Flack/Donny Hathaway hit Where Is The Love, and Grover Washington's platinum Just The Two Of Us. MacDonald also wrote the song Holiday for Buffett's recent Banana Wind album. The songwriting has been a bonus, Ralph claims. "I just wanted to play some music. I was playing on everybody's record and just got the chance to spread it out," he says modestly.

Equipment List: LP congas, LP bongos, LP Percussion Table, LP Granite Blocks, LP Cowbells, LP Shakers, and LP triangles