Kermit Ruffins
Encyclopedia
Kermit Ruffins is a jazz
trumpeter, singer and composer
from New Orleans, Louisiana
, United States
. He has been heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong
, Louis Jordan
and Eddy Jefferson. Ruffins accompanies a large portion of his songs with his own vocals, and he says that the highest note he can hit on trumpet is a high C note. Most of his bands perform New Orleans jazz standards, though he also composes many of his own pieces. Jon Pareles
of the New York Times wrote of Ruffins in a July 16, 2001 article, stating that "Mr. Ruffins is an unabashed entertainer who plays trumpet with a bright, silvery tone, sings with off-the-cuff charm and never gets too abstruse in his material".
. He attended Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orleans' 6th Ward. In high school, he played a little bit of classical music
at the behest of a strict band teacher. Ruffins developed an appreciation for cooking through his grandmother, observing her movements in the kitchen growing up.
He co-founded the Rebirth Brass Band
in 1983 while attending Clark High School, also in the Tremé neighborhood. Ruffins made his first recordings with the Rebirth in 1984. The group was inspired by another New Orleans brass band called The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, a band of slightly older musicians credited with bringing influences of funk and contemporary bebop into New Orleans style brass bands. Before they achieved the popularity allowing them to play regularly in local music venues, the Rebirth often busked
around the French Quarter
for tip
s. They soon became a houseband at the Glass House, previously the Dirty Dozen's home venue. The Rebirth once had a gig in New York City
at Lone Star Cafe
, but were hassled by police
for having no permit when they began marching outdoors as they always did in New Orleans.
. Kermit is famous for cooking barbecue
at his shows. Every Thursday since the early 1990s, Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers have played a weekly show at Vaughan's Bar in the Bywater
neighborhood which is very popular with both locals and visitors. His 2007 Basin Street Records release, Live at Vaughan's was recorded during one of his performances at the establishment.
He has also performed at hundreds of funerals during his career in The Crescent City. In 2003 the band received a nomination at the Big Easy Entertainment Awards, which recognizes local talents.He currently appears as himself in HBO's Treme
as a recurring character.
ceremony at St Peter Claver Church. A reception was held at The Parish at The House of Blues
. The couple had their first daughter together a year earlier, aptly named Kaylin Orleans Ruffins. Ruffins also has children from a previous marriage.
Ruffins has said he loves drinking Bud Light beer and smoking cannabis
, stating that Amsterdam
is his second favorite place to perform outside of New Orleans due to its many legal coffee shops
that sell premium grade cannabis and hashish
. He is also a good friend—and sometime local competitor of—Irvin Mayfield
, a fellow New Orleans trumpeter.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
trumpeter, singer and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
from New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He has been heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
and Eddy Jefferson. Ruffins accompanies a large portion of his songs with his own vocals, and he says that the highest note he can hit on trumpet is a high C note. Most of his bands perform New Orleans jazz standards, though he also composes many of his own pieces. Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
of the New York Times wrote of Ruffins in a July 16, 2001 article, stating that "Mr. Ruffins is an unabashed entertainer who plays trumpet with a bright, silvery tone, sings with off-the-cuff charm and never gets too abstruse in his material".
Early life
Kermit started playing trumpet in 8th grade at Lawless Junior High School in the Ninth Ward of New OrleansNinth Ward of New Orleans
The Ninth Ward or 9th Ward is a distinctive region of New Orleans, Louisiana that is located in the easternmost downriver portion of the city. It is geographically the largest of the 17 Wards of New Orleans....
. He attended Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orleans' 6th Ward. In high school, he played a little bit of classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
at the behest of a strict band teacher. Ruffins developed an appreciation for cooking through his grandmother, observing her movements in the kitchen growing up.
Rebirth Brass Band
Rebirth Brass Band
The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1982 by tuba/sousaphone player Philip Frazier, his brother, bass drummer, Keith Frazier and trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, and other school marching band members from Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orleans’ Tremé...
in 1983 while attending Clark High School, also in the Tremé neighborhood. Ruffins made his first recordings with the Rebirth in 1984. The group was inspired by another New Orleans brass band called The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, a band of slightly older musicians credited with bringing influences of funk and contemporary bebop into New Orleans style brass bands. Before they achieved the popularity allowing them to play regularly in local music venues, the Rebirth often busked
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
around the French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
for tip
Tip
A tip is an extra payment made to certain service sector workers in addition to the advertised price of the transaction. Such payments and their size are a matter of social custom. Tipping varies among cultures and by service industry...
s. They soon became a houseband at the Glass House, previously the Dirty Dozen's home venue. The Rebirth once had a gig in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
at Lone Star Cafe
Lone Star Cafe
The Lone Star Cafe was a cafe and club in New York City at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 13th Street, from 1976 to 1989. The Texas-themed cafe opened in February 1976 and became the premier country music venue in New York and booked big names and especially acts from Texas, like Asleep at the...
, but were hassled by police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
for having no permit when they began marching outdoors as they always did in New Orleans.
Barbecue Swingers
Ruffins founded the Barbecue Swingers in 1992, a traditional jazz quintetQuintet
A quintet is a group containing five members.It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single unit....
. Kermit is famous for cooking barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
at his shows. Every Thursday since the early 1990s, Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers have played a weekly show at Vaughan's Bar in the Bywater
Bywater, New Orleans
Bywater is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Florida Avenue to the north, the Industrial Canal to the east, the Mississippi River to the south and Franklin Avenue Street to the west...
neighborhood which is very popular with both locals and visitors. His 2007 Basin Street Records release, Live at Vaughan's was recorded during one of his performances at the establishment.
He has also performed at hundreds of funerals during his career in The Crescent City. In 2003 the band received a nomination at the Big Easy Entertainment Awards, which recognizes local talents.He currently appears as himself in HBO's Treme
Treme (TV series)
Treme is an American television drama series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer that premiered on April 11, 2010 on HBO. It takes its name from Tremé, a neighborhood of New Orleans...
as a recurring character.
Venues
- Austin City Limits Music FestivalAustin City Limits Music FestivalThe Austin City Limits Music Festival is an annual three-day American music festival that takes place in Austin, Texas at the city's central public park, Zilker Park...
- French QuarterFrench QuarterThe French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
Festival - New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
- Strings In The Mountains Music Festival
- Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival
- TabascoTabascoTabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa....
Pepperfest - 2010 Voodoo Festival, New Orleans
Personal life
On April 14, 2007, he married his fiancée Karen "Juicee" James onstage during his performance at the New Orleans French Quarter Festival. This was the couples' second vow exchange of the day as they had earlier been married in a CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
ceremony at St Peter Claver Church. A reception was held at The Parish at The House of Blues
House of Blues
House of Blues is a chain of 13 live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location was in Cambridge's Harvard Square. It was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, star of The Blues Brothers...
. The couple had their first daughter together a year earlier, aptly named Kaylin Orleans Ruffins. Ruffins also has children from a previous marriage.
Ruffins has said he loves drinking Bud Light beer and smoking cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
, stating that Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
is his second favorite place to perform outside of New Orleans due to its many legal coffee shops
Cannabis coffee shop
Coffeeshops are establishments in the Netherlands where the sale of cannabis for personal consumption by the public is tolerated by the local authorities ....
that sell premium grade cannabis and hashish
Hashish
Hashish is a cannabis preparation composed of compressed stalked resin glands, called trichomes, collected from the unfertilized buds of the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than unsifted buds or leaves...
. He is also a good friend—and sometime local competitor of—Irvin Mayfield
Irvin Mayfield
Irvin Mayfield, Jr. is an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He has been serving as Cultural Ambassador of the City of New Orleans and State of Louisiana since 2003. He co-founded and has co-led the Afro-Cuban jazz group Los Hombres Calientes since 1998. Their debut album won Billboard's 2000...
, a fellow New Orleans trumpeter.
Discography
| Year | Album | Notes | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | World on a String | debut album | Justice Records |
| 1994 | The Big Butter and Egg Man | - | Justice Records |
| 1996 | Hold on Tight | - | Justice Records |
| 1998 | The Barbecue Swingers Live | - | Basin Street Records |
| 1999 | Swing This | - | Basin Street Records |
| 2001 | 1533 St. Philip Street | - | Basin Street Records |
| 2002 | Big Easy | - | Basin Street Records |
| 2005 | Throwback | - | Basin Street Records |
| 2007 | Live at Vaughan's | - | Basin Street Records |
| 2009 | Livin' a Treme Life | - | Basin Street Records |
| 2009 | Have a Crazy Cool Christmas | - | Basin Street Records |
| 2010 | Happy Talk | - | Basin Street Records |
Filmography
- New Orleans Music in ExileNew Orleans Music in ExileNew Orleans Music in Exile is a documentary/ music film that was made in 2006 and released on DVD on August 7, 2007. It was directed by Robert Mugge.-Summary:...
(2006) - TremeTreme (TV series)Treme is an American television drama series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer that premiered on April 11, 2010 on HBO. It takes its name from Tremé, a neighborhood of New Orleans...
(2010) - After the Catch (2007)
- The Real World New Orleans (2010)
Awards
- 2003 - OffbeatOffBeat (magazine)OffBeat is a monthly music magazine in New Orleans, Louisiana first published in 1988. It mainly focuses on the music scene of New Orleans and Louisiana. It covers wide range of local music including R&B, blues, brass bands, jazz, cajun music, zydeco, to rock....
's Best of The Beat Awards in Best Traditional Jazz Band or Performer for Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers
External links
- Satchmo.com profile
- Basin Street Records page
- The Best New Orleans Jazz Musicians
- Jazz Musicians Ask if Their Scene Will Survive, Kermit Ruffins quoted in the New York Times about Hurricane KatrinaHurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
's effect on the New Orleans jazz scene