Hilton Ruiz

Hilton Ruiz ( * May 29, 1952 in New York City; † June 6, 2006 in New Orleans) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He integrated Afro-Cuban elements in the creative jazz.

Life and work

Ruiz comes from a Puerto Rican family and had early piano lessons. Already at the age of eight he gave a solo concert at New York's Carnegie Recital Hall. Only later he began to deal with popular Latin music, played from the age of thirteen in salsa bands. In 1971 he received free tuition by Mary Lou Williams, who made ​​him familiar with the jazz piano and its history. He then played with Cal Massey, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson and Frank Foster. In 1973 he worked for Clark Terry, Jackie McLean, Charles Mingus and again at Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He also played with Betty Carter, Archie Shepp, Chico Freeman, Marion Brown, Dizzy Gillespie and Don Cherry. In 1993, he again worked with Tito Puente.

Already on his album Piano Man (1975 ) he showed conclusively how the Latin category may enter into the new integrated piano jazz. Many more albums followed.

His composition " Something Grand " was part of the soundtrack of the film American Beauty. As a teacher, he worked for different institutions and also wrote textbooks.

Hilton Ruiz died from the effects of a fall in May 2006.

Discography

  • Piano Man (1975, with Buster Williams and Billy Higgins)
  • Manhattan Mambo (1992, with Papo Vazquez and David Sánchez )
  • Excitation (1993)
  • Hands on Percussion (1994 )
  • Iceland Eyes ( 1997)
  • Enchantment (2003)

Lexigraphic entries

  • Martin Kunzler, Jazz Encyclopedia Vol 2 Reinbek 2002; ISBN 3-499-16513-9
392253
de