Dylan Cramer

Dylan Cramer (born January 21, 1958, in North Vancouver, British Columbia),^[1] is a Canadian alto saxophonist, jazz musician and author.

Career

Cramer took up the saxophone at age 13, after the sudden death of his father. Four years later in 1975, Cramer heard a recording of alto sax legend Sonny Criss^[1][2] and was so taken with Sonny's playing that, in 1977, he travelled from Canada to Los Angeles to study with him.^[1][2] After developing a relationship with Criss that lasted only eight months, Sonny Criss committed suicide. After briefly attending the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles (1977–79), Cramer was recommended by Grove to study privately with studio musician Phil Sobel. Cramer worked with Sobel from 1978 until Sobel's death in 2008.

In 1997, 20 years after Sonny's death, Cramer decided to do an album in his honour. For that recording, first released as The First One in 1998, he hired jazz legend and friend of Sonny, Leroy Vinnegar, on bass. In 2011, Nagel-Heyer Records from Hamburg released the tribute worldwide Remembering Sonny Criss.^{[citation needed]}

In 2001, Cramer released a classic jazz album, All Night Long. In 2003, Cramer recorded his third album, Bumpin' On Sunset, which continued Cramer's interpretations of movie themes, Latin tunes, and bluesy ballads. 2009 marked the release of Cramer's fourth album, Alto, released on his own record label, Casa Records. In 2017, Cramer released his fifth album, Blue Prelude, with pianist Ron Johnston, on Casa Records. The album features two songs from George Michael, one from Michael McDonald and another from Stevie Wonder, along with the Amy Winehouse hit, "Back To Black.".^{[3][better source needed]}

In 2019, Cramer published his first book, Alto Saxophone Mastery, followed by Chasing My Father three years later and Flute Artistry in 2025.

Discography

• The First One (DSM, 1998)^[2][4][5][6]
• All Night Long (Nagel-Heyer, 2001)^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13]}
• Bumpin' On Sunset (Nagel-Heyer, 2003)^[14][15]
• Alto (Casa, 2009)
• Remembering Sonny Criss (Nagel-Heyer, 2011)^[16]
• Blue Prelude (Casa, 2017)

Bibliography

• Alto Saxophone Mastery (2019) ISBN 9781999051228
• Chasing My Father (2022) ISBN 9781999051259
• Flute Artistry (2025) ISBN 9798218621759