Ralph Peterson, jazz drummer who inspired Berklee students as a professor, dies at 58
By Bryan Marquard Globe Staff,Updated March 8, 2021, 7:34 p.m.
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Drummer Ralph Peterson and The Messenger Legacy band performed during Winter JazzFest at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City.Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images/File 2019
With little more than 100 minutes to riff through a century of jazz history, Ralph Peterson Jr. addressed some 20 incoming Berklee College of Music freshmen a few years ago, his questions as sharp and rolling as the beats on the drums he had played in an illustrious career as a musician.