Jazz composer/saxophonist Paul Cram was born on August 11, 1952, in Victoria, British Columbia. At the age of eight, Cram and his family relocated to Vancouver, where the youngster first took up the clarinet, then the tenor saxophone (inspired by the great John Coltrane). Playing in a variety of local bands during his teenage years, Cram enrolled into the University of British Columbia during the early '70s, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree of music in 1978. During his college years, Cram began writing his own compositions as well as collaborating with other musicians, leading to the formation of the New Orchestra Quintet and the New Orchestra Workshop. By 1982, Cram was ready to give it a go on his own, as he formed the Paul Cram Trio and scored a Juno-nominated album the same year with Blue Tales in Time.