Ralph Raymond Pena (February 24, 1927 – May 20, 1969) was an American jazz double bassist and composer.
Pena learned to play baritone horn and tuba as a child before becoming known as a jazz double bassist.
[1] In the early 1950s he worked with Charlie Barnet, Stan Getz, Barney Kessel, Billy May, Jack Montrose, Vido Musso, Art Pepper, Duane Tatro, and Cal Tjader.
In the early 1960s he worked with Ben Webster, Frank Sinatra, George Shearing, Joe Pass, Bud Shank, Dick Grove, Anita O'Day, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nancy Wilson.
In May 1969, three months past his 42nd birthday, while Pena was in Mexico City, working on a film score, he was crossing the street and suffered fatal injuries upon being struck by an automobile.