Willie Ruff + Whole Drum Truth

Ellington Jazz Series Willie Ruff, Artistic Director

The Whole Drum Truth Willie Ruff A quartet of modern jazz drummers led by TOOTIE HEATH with WILLIE RUFF, French horn MARI BLACK, violin 路 JACK VEES, bass

fri

NOV4 8 PM

Robert Blocker, Dean

WILLIE RUFF horn

Willie Ruff Willie Ruff is the hornist and bassist of the Mitchell-Ruff Duo featuring pianist Dwike Mitchell. The Duo records, performs, and lectures on jazz extensively in the United States, Asia, Africa and Europe. Ruff, who attended the Yale School of Music as an undergraduate and graduate student, has been a faculty member there since 1971 teaching Music History, courses on Ethnomusicology, an interdisciplinary Seminar on Rhythm, and a course on Instrumental Arranging.

He is founding Director of the Duke Ellington Fellowship Program at Yale, a community based organization sponsoring world-class artists mentoring and performing with Yale students and young musicians from the New Haven Public School System.

Ruff ’s 1992 memoir, A Call to Assembly was awarded the Deems Taylor ASCAP award. He has written widely on Paul Hindemith, one of his teachers at Yale, and on his professional association with the American composers, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

His collaborations with Yale geologist John Rodgers on the musical astronomy of the 17th century scientist, Johannes Kepler, resulted in an important “planetarium for the ear” currently on CD and published widely in international astronomy journals.

Ruff has also written on music and dance in Russia, and on the introduction of American Jazz in China where he has lectured in Mandarin.

His next book, Six Roads to Chicago explores the relation of culture in Chicago to life in its hinterlands.

THE WHOLE DRUM TRUTH

Albert “Tootie” Heath Born 1935 in Philadelphia and now living in southern California, Albert “Tootie” Heath is the youngest of the three musical Heath brothers.

The first of Tootie’s several hundred records was John Coltrane’s first as a leader (Coltrane on Prestige). John Lewis and Milt Jackson chose Tootie to be the last drummer for the Modern Jazz Quartet (1995–96) following the death of Connie Kay. Tootie was a regular member of bands led by Don Cherry, Kenny Drew, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Art Farmer/ Benny Golson, Frederic Gulda (in a trio with Ron Carter), Tommy Flanagan, Dexter Gordon, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Milt Jackson, J.J. Johnson, Yusef Lateef, Sonny Rollins, Bobby Timmons, Lester Young, Cedar Walton, and Ben Webster. He currently performs with his brother Jimmy in the Heath

» www.thewholedrumtruth.com

Brothers band. He is the recipient of Yale University’s Duke Ellington Fellowship Medal (2003) and of many awards for helping at-risk children.

He has been a member of the faculty at Stanford University’s Jazz Workshop since 1986. The recent documentary film Between a Smile and a Tear, by the Danish pianist and film-maker Niels Lan Doky, highlights Tootie’s residency at the fabled Montmartre jazz club in Copenhagen during the 1960s.

WHOLE DRUM TRUTH (continued)

Louis Hayes

Kenny Washington

Born 1937, Detroit, Michigan. Resides in New York City. Louis began his professional career at age 18 when he joined Yusef Lateef ’s band.

He was the prime drummer for Cannonball Adderley and propelled groups led by Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Oscar Peterson, and John Coltrane (including the albums Lush Life and Last Trane). Louis has also provided the rhythm for Nat Adderley (“Work Song”), George Benson, Duke Ellington, Curtis Fuller, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, J.J. Johnson, Jackie McLean, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins, Woody Shaw, McCoy Tyner, and Cedar Walton. His work with vocalists includes Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter, and Nancy Wilson.

Louis has recorded with musical geniuses as varied as John Lee Hooker and Ravi Shankar.

His recent quintets have included young stars such as Vincent Herring, Jeremy Pelt, Javon Jackson, and Richie Goods. His is currently the leader of the Cannonball Legacy Band.

Born 1958, a lifelong New Yorker. Kenny graduated from the famous Music & Art High School and furthered his drum studies with Rudy Collins, a player of wide talents for such diverse artists as Hot Lips Page and Cecil Taylor.

While still a teenager, Kenny broke in with Lee Konitz’s band. He later joined Betty Carter and Johnny Griffin. Kenny has played and recorded with many of the greatest jazz musicians, including Ray Bryant, Tommy Flannagan, Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Ahmad Jamal, Houston Person, Clark Terry, and Frank Wess. His work with singers includes Andy Bey, Freddy Cole, Lena Horne, Etta Jones, and Jane Monheit. A scholar of jazz history, Kenny is the author of liner notes for many albums and he has prepared classic recordings by Count Basie and Art Blakey for re-release. A faculty member at the Julliard School since 2008, he also teaches at Purchase College of the State University of New York. For more than the past decade, Kenny has been the drummer for the Bill Charlap Trio.

Willie Jones III Born 1968 in Los Angeles, California. Resides in Brooklyn, New York. The son of a prominent jazz pianist, Willie attended the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied under Tootie Heath. He was a semifinalist in the 1992 Thelonious Monk Jazz Drum Competition.

Willie was the drummer for the Milt Jackson Quartet (1994–95), Arturo Sandoval (1995–98), and the Roy Hargrove Quintet (1998–05).

Among Willie’s many recordings are Horace Silver’s Jazz Has a Sense of Humor, Kurt Elling’s Grammy-nominated album Night Moves, and Eric Reed’s Here. He has also played with Eric Alexander, Ernestine Anderson, Michael Brecker, Bill Charlap, Billy Childs, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Hank Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Sonny Rollins, and Cedar Walton.

As a leader, Willie has released four albums on his own label, WJ3 Records; his latest is entitled The Next Phase. » www.williejones3.com

MARI BLACK violin

Multistyle violinist Mari Black is building a reputation as one of the most dynamic young players of her generation. From appearances at folk festivals to solo performances at Carnegie Hall, her concerts draw on elements of diverse styles including jazz, tango, folk, and classical, as well as Celtic, American, and Canadian fiddling. In the past year alone, she has won top awards in numerous classical, Celtic, and Canadian fiddle competitions. Mari has appeared with artists such as Mark O’Connor and Willie Ruff in live performance and national media broadcast, including Fox and CBS morning news, and NPR’s Here and Now. She is currently working on her debut album.

Mari presents frequent workshops at schools, conferences, music festivals, and universities.

She has taught at the Mark O’Connor fiddle camp, Kinhaven Music Festival, New York’s School for Strings, and the Boston Youth Symphony’s Intensive Community Program.

She served as the Professor of Music at Bunker Hill Community College, where in just two years she developed the framework for a new multistyle music program.

Mari completed her master’s degree at the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Syoko Aki, Willie Ruff, and members of the Tokyo String Quartet. She is currently completing her doctorate work at Columbia University’s Teachers College, where her research focuses on the development of college-level multistyle string programs.

JACK VEES bass

Jack Vees, composer and electric bassist, is operations director of the Center for Studies in Music Technology. He received his M.F.A. in composition from the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with Louis Andriessen, Vinko Globokar, and Morton Subotnik. He is active in the international arena as both a performer and a composer, having works played at sites from CBGB’s of the downtown New York scene to such festivals as the Berlin Biennale and New Music America. Many contemporary music groups like Ensemble Modern, Zeitgeist, and the California Ear Unit have commissioned pieces from him. A collection of his works entitled Surf Music Again is available on the CRI/ Emergency Music label. His opera Feynman, for solo voice and percussion, was premiered in June 2005 at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and later performed at the Knitting Factory in New York City. He is also the author of The Book on Bass Harmonics, which has become a standard reference for bassists since its publication in 1979. Mr. Vees joined the Yale faculty in 1988.

COMING UP

David Shifrin, clarinet Yale School of Music 203 432-4158 concerts@yale.edu music.yale.edu

concerts & public relations Dana Astmann Danielle Heller Dashon Burton new media Monica Ong Reed Austin Kase operations Tara Deming Christopher Melillo piano curators Brian Daley William Harold recording studio Eugene Kimball

november 15 Morse Recital Hall | Tue | 8 pm Faculty Artist Series David Shifrin and guests perform music of Mozart, Debussy, Shulman, and more. Free.

Benjamin Verdery, guitar november 29 Morse Recital Hall | Tue | 8 pm Faculty Artist Series Music by Yale composers: Bresnick, Laderman, Lang, Theofanidis, Vees, and Verdery. Free.

Toshiko Akiyoshi Quartet december 9 Morse Recital Hall | Fri | 8 pm Ellington Jazz Series Featuring Toshiko Akiyoshi, piano with Lew Tabackin, saxophone, and more.

Tickets $20–$30, Students $10.

Ron Carter Trio march 23 Morse Recital Hall | Fri | 8 pm Ellington Jazz Series Bassist Ron Carter plays with pianist Mulgrew Miller and guitarist Russell Malone.

Tickets $20–$30, Students $10.