Georg Ruby Piano Solo
Georg Ruby Village Zone
Willeke - Ruby - Strauch
Georg Ruby / Blue Art Orchestra
Georg Ruby - Wollie Kaiser
Georg Ruby - Michel Pilz
Georg Ruby Piano Solo
Personal Songbook
The opening concert of the jazz festival »Post This Neo That« at
the Philharmonie in Cologne was the starting point for Georg Ruby's successful
career as solo pianist. In his “Personal Songbook” he uses sort
of networking technique combining traditional jazz improvisation with elements
of New Music, German popular music of the 1920ies and 30ies and HipHop of the
1990ies. Ruby integrates into his music groove and swing as well as lyrical
elements, abstract free-jazz-like aggressive components and free improvisation.
Thus it may occur in a concert that Theo Mackeben’s “Bei dir war
es immer so schön” alternates with a free improvised “instant
composition “ and a special version of “Bye, bye, blackbird”.
Spontaneity mixes with structure, sound imbues groove.
Georg Ruby is co-founder of the legendary “Stadtgarten”-project
in Cologne, Germany, and conductor of the Blue Art Orchesta and the trio/quartet
Village Zone. He is head of the course of jazz studies at the German College
of Music Saar in Saarbrücken and manager of JazzHausMusik in Cologne.
Georg Ruby's solo programmes are featured
on the following CDs:
- STADTGARTEN SERIES VOL.1 / JHM 1001 SER CD
- STADTGARTEN SERIES VOL.4 / JHM 1004 SER CD
- STRANGE LOOPS/ JHM 57 CD
- SOLO (Bei dir war es immer so schön)/ TEATIME VOL.2 / POISE
6 CD
The current CD / Georg Ruby Piano Solo / “Personal Songbook” will
be released October, 25th in 2008 on JazzHausMusik.
www.jazzhausmusik.de
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Georg Ruby Village Zone
feat. Ulla Oster and Nils Tegen
The musical preferences of Georg Ruby, Ulla Oster and Nils Tegen are obvious:
first, they enjoy to rearrange old standards. Here they don’t refer to
worn out hits of the jazz era, but personal versions the songs of Theo Mackeben
and Frederick Hollaender, the german song and standard composers of the 1930ies/40ies.
Second Village Zone loves free and spontaneous improvisation, so-called instant
composing, and third performing their own material with no reference to obsolete,
classical trio hierarchy structures.
Georg Ruby Village Zone currently features
bass clarinet player Michel Pilz from Luxemburg. No doubt Michel Pilz is one
of the most renowned European improvisators, e.g. as long-time member of the
ensembles of Manfred Schoof and Alex von Schlippenbach (Globe Unity Orchestra).
Over
the last years the three musicians from Cologne have become some of the most
important musicians of the European jazz scene:
Nils Tegen through his various projects in contemporary jazz with Matthias
Schubert, Bob Mintzer and Frank Gratkowski;
Ulla Oster through her work with the United Women’s Orchestra and her
successful own projects, in which she deals with rearrangements pop compositions
(“Beyond Janis”, “Abaptations”, “What’s
New?”);
Georg Ruby, who is co-founder of the legendary “Stadtgarten”-project
in Cologne, through piano solo performances and conducting the Blue Art Orchestra
from Cologne, 1996-prizewinner of the German Orchestra Competition. He is head
of the course of jazz studies at the German College of Music Saar in Saarbrücken
and manager of JazzHausMusik in Cologne.
Michel Pilz - bass clarinet
Georg Ruby - piano
Ulla Oster - bass
Nils Tegen - drums
www.michelpilz.com
www.georgruby.de
www.de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulla_Oster
www.nilstegen.de
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For several years now Claas Willeke, Georg Ruby and Oliver Strauch are working
on their trio concept. They know each other since the year 2000 from their
work at the course of jazz studies at the College of Music Saar in Saarbrücken,
Germany. In the last eight years each one of them has contributed in many projects
to find new ways of expression at the cutting edge between tradition and free
impsovisation. Their work has led to a great number of recordings, radio broadcasts
and concert tours all around the world.
Claas Willeke from Saarbrücken
belongs to the creative brains of new, improvised an contemporary music in
Germany; a generation of musicians comprehending crossing borders as task and
purpose of life. Composer, saxophone player, improviser and electronic musician:
Willeke plays, composes, arranges, directs and produces with duos, trios, chamber
orchestras for dance performances, theater and film. Meaning and structure
of his works are more important to Willeke than solo excursions. To work on
visions and experiences and transform dramaturgy into sound is what counts
for him.
Oliver Strauch (Saarbrücken/Berlin) is well known in Germany, France and
the benelux countries. Besides that he has played and recorded with internationally
renowned musicians as Benny Bailey, Kenny Wheeler Randy Brecker, Lee Konitz
and Martial Solal. Oliver Strauch runs the Jazzclub “Domicil” in
Saarbrücken.
Georg Ruby is on the road in many ways: solo piano, with his
trio/quartet “Village
Zone”, and as conductor of the Blue Art Orchestra from Cologne, 1996-prizewinner
of the German Orchestra Competition. Georg Ruby is co-founder of the legendary “Stadtgarten”-project
in Cologne, Germany, head of the course of jazz studies at the German College
of Music Saar in Saarbrücken and manager of JazzHausMusik in Cologne.
Claas Willeke – saxophone, electronics
Georg Ruby – piano
Oliver Strauch – drums
Claas Willeke www.claaswilleke.de
Georg Ruby www.georgruby.de
Oliver Strauch www.oliver-strauch.de
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Blue Art Orchestra
Conductor: Georg Ruby
The Blue Art Orchestra, conducted by Georg Ruby, has found its very personal
way of interpreting contemporary works for jazz orchestra. Compositions and
arrangements of Georg Ruby as well as of musicians as Kenny Wheeler, Django
Bates and Maria Schneider are part of its programme.
Of course the BAO feels also very comfortable with groovy jazz: it features
a great deal of the otherwise seldom performed band book of the Kenny Clarke/Francy
Boland Big Band - Francy Bolands very special rhythm concept for big band is,
as straight-ahead-experience, still a great pleasure for fans of the biggest
possible band constellation.
And what would a jazz orchesta be without its voice: BAO features singer Edith
van den Heuvel from the Netherlands as solo singer and in addition to that
as sort of colourful sound source without any lyrics.
Georg Ruby is co-founder of the legendary “Stadtgarten”-project
in Cologne, Germany, piano solo performer and leader of the trio/quartet Village
Zone. He is head of the course of jazz studies at the German College of Music
Saar in Saarbrücken and manager of JazzHausMusik in Cologne.
Available programmes of the BAO
- “Village Zone Session” / arrangements of Georg Ruby
- “The Music of Tito Puente und Arturo Sandoval” / BAO goes Salsa
- “The Music of Francy Boland” / BAO in straight-ahead-mode
- “Tribute to Gian-Luigi Trovesi” / homage to the great Italian
musician
- “Soundscapes - Music for Jazz Orchestra” / arrangements of Christina
Fuchs
- “The Sweet Time Suite” / the famous suite of the Canadian trumpet
player Kenny Wheeler
- “Discovering Metal” / programme with music of Django Bates
- “The Music of Maria Schneider” / an evening with arrangements
of Gil Evans’ colleague
- “Foxy Lady” / Jimi Hendrix goes Big Band
BAO releases
- Blue Art Orchestra / Fly / rubyRec 01
- Blue Art Orchestra / Clair-Obscur / rubyRec 02
- Blue Art Orchestra / The Topaz Session / rubyRec 03
- Blue Art Orchestra / „Sketches of a Working Band“ / JHM 192
(distribution: JazzHausMusik )
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Georg Ruby-Wollie Kaiser
(Wollie Kaiser (Saarbrücken) - reeds / Georg Ruby (Hofweiler) - piano
For many years Georg Ruby (piano) and Wollie Kaiser (reeds), both from Saarebrücken, have been working on their project “Ruby Domesticus Vulgaris“. They know each other since the early 1980s. They played in ensembles such as the Jazz Haus Big Band, Wittek-Kaiser-Manderscheid & Ruby or the 1. Kölner Weltorchester (1st Cologne World Orchestra) working on new concepts of improvisation. For more than the last two decades the two musicians have individually contributed in a variety of projects to develop new ways of playing between traditional structures and free improvisation. A multitude of recordings, broadcastings and tours throughout the world are results of this work. Georg Ruby’s and Wollie Kaiser’s duo record “Ruby Domesticus Vulgaris” has been honoured as “best foreign production” by Cadence Poll/New York.
Wollie Kaiser lives and works in Saarbrücken. Important milestones of his career were and are cooperations with his collegues of Kölner Saxophon Mafia and musicians as Peter Herborn, Manfred Bründl, Gary Thomas, Mark Feldman and Kenny Wheeler. ” Since 2002 he lectures at the jazz department for master studies (“Diplom-Ergänzungsstudiengang Jazz”) at the college of music Saar in Saarbrücken.
Georg Ruby is on his way in many ways. As soloist, with his trio Village Zone (with bass player Dieter Manderscheid and drummer Christian Thomé), partner of German Canadian vibraphone player Stefan Bauer, conductor of Village Zone Orchestra, the BJJO (Berliner Jugend Jazz Orchester), the Jugend Jazz Orchester Saar and the “Blue Art Orchestra”. With the latter he has won the German orchestra competition (Deutscher Orchesterwettbewerb) in 1996. He is co-founder of the meanwhile legendary Stadtgarten project in Cologne, head of the label JazzHausMusik (more than 130 releases) and since 2002 professor and head of the jazz department of the college of music in Saarbrücken.
The concept of “Ruby Domesticus Vulgaris” surprises with a great number of original and atmospheric compositions of both musicians and includes an extremely intensive live performance. As well as, of course, Wollie Kaiser’s amazing enormous equipment of instruments, from flute to clarinet and the whole family of saxophones featuring even special instruments as the contrabass clarinet.
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Georg Ruby-Michel Pilz
Michel Pilz (Luxemburg) - bass clarinet
Georg Ruby (Cologne) - piano
Since the year 2007, Georg Ruby, pianist from Cologne, and Michel Pilz, bass clarinet player from Luxemburg, are working on their project "Instant Composings". Throughout their cross-border cooperation between Luxemburg, Cologne and Saarbrücken both musicians have got to know each other very well and came to appreciate each other very much. Michel Pilz and Georg Ruby belong in their own special ways to the most important European improvising musicians, which is finding expression in lots of recordings, broadcast productions and numerous tours through all continents. Georg Ruby is a versatile character: he performs solo, with his trio "Village Zone", as duo partner of saxophone player Wollie Kaiser, as conductor of the "Blue Art Orchestra", with which he has won the German jazz orchestra competition ("Deutscher Orchesterwettwerb"). He is co-founder of the meanwhile legendary Stadtgarten project in Cologne, runs the label JazzHausMusik for many years (meanwhile 205 productions) and since 2002 is head of jazz studies at the Hochschule für Musik (HfM) Saar in Saarbrücken. Michel Pilz lives and works in Luxemburg and is regarded as doyen of bass clarinet in improvised music, as colleague and congenial improviser of many years' standing in the bands of Manfred Schoof as one of the planet's most experienced and imaginative jazz musicians. The concept of "Instant Composings" means spontaneously evolving "live compositions" being the main principle of the musical interaction between Georg Ruby and Michel Pilz. On the one hand purely enjoying intense, sometimes simply sound generating improvisation, on the other hand in whatever groove, whether free tonal or harmonically bound: Michel Pilz and Georg Ruby's concept is convincing through its extraordinarily communicative richness of colours - and through their enormous musical sense of humour. The first production of the duo "Deuxième Bureau" has been released on 27th of October 2011 by JazzHausMusik (JHM 205).
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