Ruby Braff
{{Short description|American jazz trumpeter and cornetist}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Ruby Braff
| image =
| caption =
| image_size =
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name = Reuben Braff
| alias =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|3|16}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2003|2|9|1927|3|16}}
| origin = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_place = Chatham, Massachusetts, U.S.
| genre = Swing
Dixieland
Mainstream jazz
| label = Arbors
| past_member_of = Edmond Hall
}}
Reuben "Ruby" Braff (March 16, 1927{{cite book|title=The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-580-8|page=57/8}} – February 9, 2003){{Cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/feb/12/guardianobituaries.jazz|title=Obituary: Ruby Braff|date=12 February 2003|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=July 25, 2021}} was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Garry Moore television show and described Ruby as "the Ivy League Louis Armstrong".
Braff, who was of Jewish heritage, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. 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 resided in Harwich, Massachusetts and died of complications from emphysema, heart failure, and glaucoma on February 9, 2003, in Chatham, Massachusetts.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ruby-braff-36252.html|title=Ruby Braff|date=11 February 2003|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=July 25, 2021}} He had spent a good part of his life living in the Riverdale section of The Bronx, New York City.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}
Discography
=As leader/co-leader=
- Buck Meets Ruby (Vanguard, 1954) with Buck Clayton
- Jazz at Storyville, Vol. 1 and 2 (Savoy, 1955) with Pee Wee Russell
- Ruby Braff Swings (Bethlehem, 1955)
- Holiday in Braff (Bethlehem, 1955)
- Ball at Bethlehem with Braff (Bethlehem, 1955)
- Braff!! (Epic, 1956)
- Ruby Braff featuring Dave McKenna (ABC-Paramount, 1956)
- Hi-Fi Salute to Bunny (RCA Victor, 1957)
- The Ruby Braff Octet with Pee Wee Russell & Bobby Henderson at Newport (Verve, 1957)
- Ruby Braff Goes 'Girl Crazy' (Warner Bros. Records, 1958)
- Easy Now (RCA, 1959)
- You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me (Stere-O-Craft, 1959)
- Blowing Around The World (United Artists, 1959)
- The Ruby Braff Marshall Brown Sextet (United Artists, 1961)
- Very Sinatra (Finesse, 1982)
- Live at the Regattabar (Arbors, 1993)
- Ruby Braff Remembers Louis Armstrong: Being with You (Arbors, 1997)
- You Can Depend on Me (Arbors, 1998)
- Born to Play (Arbors, 1999)
- Ruby Braff and Strings: In the Wee, Small Hours in London and New York (Arbors, 2000)
- The Cape Godfather (Arbors, 2000)
- Music for the Still of the Night (Arbors, 2001)
- I Hear Music (Arbors, 2002)
- Relaxing at the Penthouse with the John Pizzarelli Trio (Victoria, 2002)
- Variety Is the Spice of Braff (Arbors, 2002)
- Watch What Happens (Arbors, 2003)
- You Brought a New Kind of Love (Arbors, 2005)
- Controlled Nonchalance' at the Regattabar, Vol. 2 (Arbors, 2006)
- Ruby Braff And The Flying Pizzarellis: C'est Magnifique! (Arbors, 2007)
- Little Things - Live In Dublin 1976 (Nagel-Heyer Records, 2007)
- For the Last Time - Ruby Braff's Historic Final Performance With Scott Hamilton (Arbors, 2008)
- Our Love is Here to Stay (Arbors, 2010)
= With [[George Barnes (musician)|George Barnes]]=
- The Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet (Chiaroscuro, 1974)
- The Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet Salutes Rodgers and Hart (Concord Jazz, 1974)
- The Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet – Live at the New School (Chiaroscuro, 1974)
- The Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet Plays Gershwin (Concord Jazz, 1974)
- The Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet – To Fred Astaire with Love (RCA, 1975)
= With [[Ellis Larkins]]=
- 2 Part Inventions in Jazz, Vol. 2, (Vanguard, 1955)
- The Grand Reunion (Chiaroscuro, 1972)
- Ruby Braff & Ellis Larkins: The Complete Duets (Definitive Classics, 2006)
- Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins: Calling Berlin, Vols. 1 & 2 (Arbors)
=As sideman=
With Larry Adler
- Larry Adler Again! (Audio Fidelity, 1959)
With Louis Armstrong
- Louis Armstrong and His Friends (Flying Dutchman/Amsterdam, 1970)
With Tony Bennett
- Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs (Improv, 1976)
- Tony Bennett Sings More Great Rodgers & Hart (Improv, 1977)
- Tony Bennett Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook (Concord, 2005; reissue of Improv recordings, plus unreleased takes)
;With Buck Clayton
- Jumpin' at the Woodside (Columbia, 1955)
- All the Cats Join In (Columbia 1956)
With Scott Hamilton and Dave McKenna
- Controlled Nonchalance at the Regattabar, Volume 1 (Arbors)
- Controlled Nonchalance, Volume 2 (Arbors)
With Woody Herman
- It Had To Be Us (Chiaroscuro 1998)
With Milt Hinton
- The Judge at His Best (Chiaroscuro, 2001)
With Dick Hyman
- America, The Beautiful (Arbors)
- Ruby Braff and Dick Hyman Play Nice Tunes (Arbors)
- Manhattan Jazz (MusicMasters)
- 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 Ralph Sutton
- R & R (Chiaroscuro, 2002)
- Remembered (Arbors DVD)
With George Wein
- Wein, Women and Song and More, George Wein Plays and Sings (Arbors)
- George Wein & the Newport All-Stars (Impulse!, 1962)
- George Wein's Newport All-Stars (Atlantic, 1969)
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.jazzreview.com/index.php/resources/artist-biographies/item/13690 Jazz Review biography]
- {{AllMusic | id= ruby-braff-mn0000357057 | label= Ruby Braff}}
- {{discogs artist|296955-Ruby-Braff|Ruby Braff}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Braff, Ruby}}
Category:American jazz trumpeters
Category:American male trumpeters
Category:Candid Records artists
Category:Dixieland revivalist trumpeters
Category:Mainstream jazz trumpeters
Category:Red Baron Records artists
Category:20th-century American trumpeters
Category:20th-century American male musicians
Category:21st-century American trumpeters
Category:21st-century American male musicians
Category:American male jazz musicians
Category:Sackville Records artists
Category:Black Lion Records artists
Category:Arbors Records artists
Category:United Artists Records artists
Category:Chiaroscuro Records artists
Category:Concord Records artists