Ruby Braff

Ruby Braff
Birth name	Reuben Braff
Born	(1927-03-16)March 16, 1927
Origin	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	February 9, 2003(2003-02-09) (aged 75)
Genres	Swing Dixieland Mainstream jazz
Instrument(s)	Cornet Trumpet
Labels	Arbors

Reuben "Ruby" Braff (March 16, 1927 – February 9, 2003) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Gary Moore TV show and described Ruby as "the Ivy League Louis Armstrong."

Braff was born in Boston. He was renowned for working in an idiom ultimately derived from the playing of Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke.

He began playing in local clubs in the 1940s. In 1949, he was hired to play with the Edmond Hall Orchestra at the Savoy Cafe of Boston. He relocated to New York in 1953 where he was much in demand for band dates and recordings.

He died February 10, 2003, in Chatham, Massachusetts and resided in Harwich, Massachusetts. He also spent a good part of his life living in the Riverdale section of The Bronx, New York.

Discography

As leader

• Ruby Braff featuring Dave McKenna (ABC-Paramount, 1956)
• The Ruby Braff Octet with Pee Wee Russell & Bobby Henderson at Newport (Verve, 1957)
• You Brought a New Kind of Love (Arbors)
• Variety Is the Spice of Braff (Arbors)
• I Hear Music (Arbors)
• Watch What Happens (Arbors)
• Music for the Still of the Night (Arbors)
• The Cape Godfather (Arbors)
• Ruby Braff and Strings: In the Wee Small Hours in London and New York (Arbors)
• Born to Play (Arbors)
• You Can Depend on Me (Arbors)
• Being with You (Arbors)
• Live at the Regattabar (Arbors)
• Relaxing at the Penthouse (Victoria Company)
• Braff!! (Epic)
• The Ruby Braff George Barnes Quartet (Chiaroscuro)
• The Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet Salutes Rodgers and Hart (Concord Jazz)
• The Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet – Live at the New School (Chiaroscuro)
• The Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet – To Fred Astaire with Love (Concord Jazz)
• The Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet Plays Gershwin (Concord Jazz)

As sideman

With Woody Herman

• It Had To Be Us (Chiaroscuro 1998)

With Milt Hinton

• The Judge at His Best (Chiaroscuro, 2001)

With Ralph Sutton

• R & R (Chiaroscuro, 2002)
• Remembered (Arbors DVD)

With Scott Hamilton and Dave McKenna

• Controlled Nonchalance at the Regattabar, Volume 1 (Arbors)
• Controlled Nonchalance, Volume 2 (Arbors)

With Ellis Larkins

• Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins: Calling Berlin, Vols. 1 & 2 (Arbors)
• Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins: 2 Part Inventions in Jazz, (Vanguard/Pye)
• Grand Reunion (Chiaroscuro)

With Dick Hyman

• America, The Beautiful (Arbors)
• Ruby Braff and Dick Hyman Play Nice Tunes (Arbors)
• Music from My Fair Lady (Concord)
• Music from South Pacific (Concord))

With Pee Wee Russell

• The Individualism of Pee Wee Russell (1952)
• A Portrait of Pee Wee (1958)

With George Wein

• Wein, Women and Song and More, George Wein Plays and Sings (Arbors)
• George Wein & the Newport All-Stars (Impulse!, 1962)

See also

• Izzy Ort's Bar & Grille

External links

• [1]