Hilton Ruiz

Hilton Ruiz

born on 29/5/1952 in New York City, NY, United States

died on 6/6/2006 in New Orleans, LA, United States

Hilton Ruiz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Hilton Ruiz (May 29, 1952 – June 6, 2006) was an American jazz pianist in the Afro-Cuban jazz mold, but was also a talented bebop player. He was of Puerto Rican descent.

Biography

Born in New York City, Ruiz began playing piano at the age of five after being inspired by Duke Ellington.[1] At the age of eight he performed Mozart at Carnegie Hall.[2]

In high school Ruiz studied jazz piano with Mary Lou Williams. In 1973 he was a sideman for Roland Kirk, then later for Clark Terry. He also worked with Betty Carter, Tito Puente, and Mongo Santamaría. He co-wrote a music instruction book, Jazz and How to Play It.[3] He appeared on the soundtrack to Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors.[4]

On May 19, 2006, Ruiz was found unconscious on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, where he had gone to promote a CD benefiting the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The police filed a report that he had injured himself in an accidental fall. Ruiz was hospitalized in a coma[5] and died without regaining consciousness a week after his 54th birthday. Ruiz was a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey.[4]

He was buried at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in New York City.

Discography

As leader

  • 1975 Piano Man (SteepleChase)
  • 1977 Excition (SteepleChase)
  • 1977 New York Hilton (SteepleChase)
  • 1977 Steppin' Into Beauty (SteepleChase) released 1982
  • 1981 Live at Jazz Unitè (Jazz Unite)
  • 1984 Cross Currents (Vintage Jazz)
  • 1988 El Camino (The Road) (Novus)
  • 1989 Strut (Novus)
  • 1989 Doin' It Right (Novus)
  • 1991 A Moment's Notice (Novus)
  • 1992 Manhattan Mambo (Telarc)
  • 1992 Live at Birdland (Candid)
  • 1993 Heroes (Telarc)
  • 1995 Hands on Percussion (TropiJazz/RMM)
  • 1997 Island Eyes (TropiJazz/RMM)
  • 1998 Rhythm in the House (TropiJazz/RMM)
  • 2003 Hilton Ruiz Songbook (Hilton Ruiz Music)
  • 2003 Enchantment (Arabesque)
  • 2004 A New York Story Hilton Ruiz Music
  • 2005 Steppin' with T.P.- dedicated to Tito Puente M27 Records

As sideman

With Greg Abate

  • Horace is Here: A Tribute to Horace Silver (2004)

With Afro Blue Band

  • Impressions (1995)

With George Coleman

With Art Davis

  • Reemergence (1980)

With Chico Freeman

With Dizzy Gillespie

  • Rhythmstick (1990)

With Rahsaan Roland Kirk

  • The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color (Atlantic, 1975)
  • Other Folks' Music (Atlantic, 1976)
  • Kirkatron (Warner Bros., 1976)
  • The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man (Warner Bros., 1976)
  • Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real (Warner Bros., 1977)

With Abbey Lincoln

  • Golden Lady (1980)

With Tisziji Munoz

  • Presence of Truth (1999)

References

  1. ^ Lloyd, Robin. "The sad and mysterious death of Hilton Ruiz". Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  2. ^ Lloyd, Robin (8 November 2012). "The sad and mysterious death of Hilton Ruiz". KPLU. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
This page was last modified 01.03.2019 20:39:45

This article uses material from the article Hilton Ruiz from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.