Hilton Ruiz is dead.

June 8, 2006 6:56 AM

Hilton Ruiz is dead. The wonderful pianist Hilton Ruiz, who "had been in a coma since May 19, when he was found outside a French Quarter bar with severe head injuries," has died in a New Orleans hospital. He'd played with everyone from Freddie Hubbard and Rahsaan Roland Kirk to Charles Mingus, Betty Carter, Archie Shepp, and Clark Terry. Sad news, especially coming hard on the heels of the loss of Billy Preston.
posted by languagehat (16 comments total)

Via The Daily Growler, who says: "one of the most powerful piano solos I've ever seen—for its washing out of one man's total energy into an instrumental solo—was Hilton soloing during a Latin big band reunion show with all the big Latino stars, and he built it from a low crouch over the keyboard on and on and on and up came his body gradually, on each finished chorus rising higher, until the build built it up so high it couldn't go any further until it became Utter Chaos and Hilton was standing straight up on his tip-toes, actually trying to climb up on the piano bench when his solo ended and the band and the applause drowned him out and he fell back down on the bench and there was no piano for the rest of the tune."
posted by languagehat at 6:58 AM on June 8, 2006

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He made beautiful music. What a horrid way to go.
posted by enrevanche at 7:21 AM on June 8, 2006

I had not yet seen the news this morning, languagehat. Thanks for passing it along.

It's always sad when people hear about a musician for the first time on the occasion of a passing, but I hope that somebody, somewhere will see this post and seek out his music for the first time.
posted by LinnTate at 7:36 AM on June 8, 2006

.
posted by trip and a half at 7:39 AM on June 8, 2006

A terrible loss. I recall (somewhat serendipitously) finding "El Camino" tucked away in my parents' record collection when I was still a kid and just listening to it with sheer delight and fascination.
posted by antifreez_ at 8:29 AM on June 8, 2006

I've never heard his music, though I love jazz, and I'm off to seek it out right now, thanks to languagehat.
posted by digaman at 8:30 AM on June 8, 2006

Ah goodness, I'm listening to a great Ruiz recording of Joe Henderson's exquisite melody "Black Narcissus," one of my favorite tunes. Thanks, LH!
posted by digaman at 8:37 AM on June 8, 2006

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posted by Lynsey at 9:51 AM on June 8, 2006

i am not familiar with him . i will endeavor to find some of his work.



.
posted by nola at 2:25 PM on June 8, 2006

My brother-in-law the jazz pianist emailed me the New Orleans paper's version of this yesterday. It's an odd story:

Although there were early reports that Ruiz might have been beaten, New Orleans police said witnesses and other evidence indicated he fell. Attorney Mary Howell, retained by his ex-wife and daughter, also named Aida, said last week that they, too, were convinced that Ruiz had accidentally tripped or fallen.

But his ex-wife and daughter said late Tuesday that they had retained a new attorney, Scott Galante. They would not say why, referring calls to Galante. His home number is unlisted and his office was answered by a machine.

"We did see a fall on the video. I can't tell you any more now," Ruiz's ex-wife said...

A number of Ruiz's friends and colleagues, including [Eddie] Rodriguez and trombone player Steve Turre, a longtime friend, were skeptical Tuesday about the police account.

Capt. John Bryson, a police spokesman, said Tuesday, "It's a hurting thing when a family member dies. We understand that."

Also odd was the one time I saw Ruiz live, at a show I reviewed in October 2003 [my photo], when — drunk? stoned? deranged? — he completely disrupted everything by wandering around the stage, talking to the other musicians while they were trying to play, grabbing the microphone to lecture the audience about politics, and falling on his knees to play the congas the drummer was trying to solo on.

The normally polite Maine jazz audience, in fact, was so alive with fury at all this, some people standing and yelling at him to get off the stage, that it was quite a gripping evening, much more fascinating than a normal good concert would have been. Finally, the leader of the date, Babatunde Lea, brilliantly calmed everyone down by striking up a beautiful version of the great Pharoah Sanders song The Creator Has a Master Plan, and then he quickly ended the concert only a few tunes into the second set.

At the post-gig party, Ruiz stirred things up again when he arrived and confronted the guests — at one point, he demanded to see my driver's license — claiming he was with the FBI. Lea, much embarrassed, then told me these strange outbursts were known to be common in Ruiz's life off-stage, but they had never before happened during a concert, or he never would have hired him.

"He's one of the few musicians on the scene that is equally at home in both the jazz genre and the Afro-Cuban genre in a complete sense. ... He really can play the blues, too. For real," said Turre, a longtime friend. "There's a lot of people who dabble with both worlds, but very few can authentically deal with both. And he's one of them."

Certainly a brilliant musician — the young bass player that night told me it was truly sad what I had heard, for Ruiz was by far the most accomplished member of the group — but his personal demons won out at least on that occasion.
posted by LeLiLo at 6:32 PM on June 8, 2006

Interesting anecdote lelilo. It sounds like he was having some kind of 'episode'. Here in another newspaper article, he was said to have been videoed staggering before falling.

YouTube video nuyorican blues tribute to Hilton Ruiz.
posted by nickyskye at 6:56 PM on June 9, 2006

A video clip of Hilton Ruiz playing and audio clips of his music.
posted by nickyskye at 7:01 PM on June 9, 2006

languagehat, A mini derail, the sax player you liked to listen to on the steps of 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue, near the Donnell Library, his name is Ralph and he now plays near the Mall Bandshell (off the 72nd Street transverse) in Central Park.
posted by nickyskye at 7:05 PM on June 9, 2006

Thanks, nickyskye. If I find myself in Central Park, I'll definitely look him up. That man can play.
posted by languagehat at 10:47 AM on June 10, 2006

You're welcome. I saw/heard him in the Park a few times recently and thought of you having mentioned him. Ralph can play and he's a nice guy too. By the way I must have run into you before because I was a street vendor on 53rd Street for 15 years, in front of the Donnell for about 5.

Here're some clips from wonderful CDBaby of Athur Barron's smooth sax/flute and Hilton Ruiz on piano.

On that page is a link to email Arthur Barron and Hilton Ruiz, might be a nice way to pass on one's condolences.

A little trivia: Ruiz' compositions appear on the soundtracks of the academy award winning "American Beauty" and Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors."
posted by nickyskye at 11:27 AM on June 10, 2006

More sound clips of Hilton Ruiz' playing.
I like the Arthur Barron and Hilton Ruiz album, track: 2. It’s Strange
posted by nickyskye at 11:32 AM on June 10, 2006