Open Ears
December 2001

Open Ears
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By Laurence Donohue-Greene

One of the most consistently compelling pianists since the ‘70s, Hilton Ruiz has unflappably released close to twenty very good to excellent recordings as a leader since his 1975 recording debut, Piano Man (featuring bassist Buster Williams and the drummer Billy Higgins). Through maintaining a stature as one of the true Afro-Cuban style bop piano greats, Ruiz has been able to incorporate his ability, expertise, and background in Latin flavored music and jazz into a very distinctive style all his own.

His diverse music background, beginning with his original inspiration to actually become a pianist in the first place, started at the tender age of 5 after hearing music to a TV cartoon, which he later found out was performed by Duke Ellington. The New York-born Ruiz, who is of Puerto Rican descent, would later play in New Jersey as a church pipe organist for Sunday mass, which he admits as his first true gig. Soon, one of his teachers would be the great Mary Lou Williams (who also tutored Monk amongst others), an experience from which he gained much of his harmonic sense, a vital attribute to Ruiz’s playing to this very day and as evidenced during his one night stand on November 12th at the Blue Note here in New York.

The club billed the pianist, oddly enough, as “Hilton Ruiz: Rising Jazz Piano Star”, the very same veteran pianist who was regularly employed by such leaders as Mongo Santamaria and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, who he zeroed out as the single most important association he has ever had. Over the years, Ruiz has also been associated with trumpeters Don Cherry, Joe Newman, Freddie Hubbard, Clark Terry, and Richard Williams; saxophonists Frank Foster, Chico Freeman, Marion Brown, Archie Shepp, and George Coleman; percussionists Roy Brooks and Tito Puente; and with vocalist Abbey Lincoln. All this, not to mention the fact that the pianist has recorded over two dozen sessions under his own name. A “young lion” by no means, or if such is the case, a “rising star” for well over twenty-five years now!

In any case, the sparsely attended but closely knit and supportive crowd that gathered for the early Monday night set found Ruiz with his group featuring expert bassist Lisle Atkinson, drummer Marlon Simon, and conga specialist Renato Thoms. Ruiz on several occasions revealed his obvious influences of McCoy Tyner, Eddie Palmieri, and Bud Powell not to mention the imprint he has left and/or the likeness that has been developed by such younger pianists as Michel Camilo originally from Santo Domingo, Panamanian Danilo Perez, and even Cuban Gonzalo Rubalcaba.

Starting off with “Sweet Cherry Pie”, a new composition which will be featured on his forthcoming recording on Arabesque Records (due out early next year), Ruiz moved from a Latin tinged Eddie Harris-Les McCann type of treatment to climaxing right hand runs (familiar in the playing of McCoy Tyner and Alice Coltrane) while his left hand supplied deep and mobile accentuated bass lines. Ruiz, through his Latin band experience (Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente, Paquito D’Rivera), has also mastered the two-handed approach where each hand mirrors the other as they move in coordination up and down the piano keys while in separate octaves. He has the ability to play any line with either or both hands, playing right-hand parts with his left or, likewise, left-hand parts with his right. Due to his Tatum-esque ambidexterity and versatility while hammering out lines double-time, which has become somewhat of a trademark for the amazing percussive pianist, Ruiz’s additional broad sense of dynamics have together made his style truly individual and immediately identifiable. The new tune also had frantic Cecil Taylor and Matthew Shipp piano pounding moments that settled back into the tune’s theme before getting too out of control. Moments as such are actually also significant elements in Ruiz’s bag of tricks, so to speak, and make him the diversely well-rounded player he has become.

Percussionist Thoms seems to be following in the footsteps of conga maestros Machito, Candido, Ray Barretto, Patato Valdes, and Juan Amalbert as the Latin percussionist on call for jazz dates with his mix of Latin beats and soul jazz feel. His intense and energetic solo runs, however, generally lacked strong transitions back to the theme, as certain cases revealed, and his re-introduction of other band members (either after his own or others’ respective solos) lacked an overall smoothness and roundness. With time, I’m sure you’ll be hearing much more from this young congero, though. Thoms’ brilliant unaccompanied introduction of Coltrane’s “Moment’s Notice” (originally recorded in 1957 by the composer for his Blue Train session) eventually introduced the leader who, after stating the theme, threw in some dark chords with a splattering deft left hand. A brief “Surrey with A Fringe On Top” quote from Ruiz preceded a fleet fingered emphasized left-hand run while the band worked collectively as the foundation to the leader’s ever-moving improvisations before collectively dropping out, leaving Ruiz room to truly roam. His two-handedness continued in impressive and dazzling fashion.

Coltrane’s music has always ideally lent itself to Ruiz’s attack and interpretation, in particular. Ruiz has not only recorded “Moment’s Notice” before (being the title track to his 1991 RCA-Novus recording), but also other Coltrane tunes which he has performed and recorded, including “Naima” (also on the same 1991 session) and “Straight Street” (which can be found on his 1975 debut). “He is one of the great influences on me. He’s always been a part of music,” says Ruiz. Surely, though, Coltrane never would have thought in his wildest dreams that he could have gone to the islands, so to speak, in a “Moment’s Notice”!

There was no doubt as to the leader of the quartet, as the group collectively spent most of the set in accompaniment mode. Upon closer listening, however, Atkinson was never static while he sturdily kept time. Much of his unaccompanied arco solos especially served as highlights of the entire set. He certainly proved his extensive experience as a graduate, back in the late-‘60s and early-‘70s, from one of the most demanding rhythm section schools in jazz. Unfortunately that university-of-sorts closed its doors in 1998 with the death of its founder and primary professor, vocalist Betty Carter, whom Atkinson played with along with drummer Al Harewood.

Ruiz prefaced his next tune with, “All of us need this during this time”, then lifted his hands from the piano and allowed Atkinson to feature his fine arco bass playing in the opening of Horace Silver’s beautiful ballad, “Peace”. To say his bowing technique was masterful and his playing sublime would certainly be an understatement. The pressing and meaningful bows of Atkinson brought back a musical reminder of the coincidentally titled Peace (1975) free jazz trio session he participated on under the leadership of the under-rated experimental vibraphonist Walt Dickerson (a two tune 46-minute session that was rounded out by percussionist Andrew Cyrille). Atkinson is, without a doubt, a proven arco master on the upright acoustic bass. He is the leader of a group otherwise known as the Neo-Bass Ensemble (which recorded a session entitled Hit It in 1995), a collective of two cellos and five bassists, four of which exclusively play arco bass. Also a member of the New York Bass Violin Choir, Atkinson played alongside a group that included bassists and fellow bowing veterans: Ron Carter, Sam Jones, Milt Hinton, and Richard Davis (whom he acknowledges as a primary bowing influence), amongst others. He eventually transitioned his playing of “Peace” into fingered pizzicato notes while Ruiz lightly contributed sparse notes with a gentle touch along with Thoms who, likewise, added barely noticeable but very complementing sounds of shakers, rattles, and bells. Then again unaccompanied, Atkinson closed with resonating bowed notes that truly brought the message of the tune’s title home.

Ruiz’s quartet also moved through the soul jazz of Bobby Timmons’ “Moanin”, immediately recalling the Jon Hendricks lyrics and arrangement with Lambert and Ross accompaniment. Another Coltrane associated composition Ruiz is closely associated with is from his former boss, Mongo Santamaria, who composed “Afro Blue”. The onslaught of steady congas and drums drowned out any spaces in the percussive tune, though during Ruiz’s piano solo, an extended moment or two featured the leader in quite an atonal and off beat vein. It was like a run of glossolalia that frantically bordered on entering a separate sound barrier. Interspersing the two handed technique, which Ruiz used sparingly and to wondrous effect, the solo in itself made the evening’s-worth of music truly a memorable listening experience.

The visual interaction between Atkinson and Ruiz revealed the camaraderie these musicians share with one another. Obviously familiar with one another’s idiosyncrasies, each showed a sensitivity and quick reaction to each other’s revealing body and limb movements. The end of Mongo’s “Afro Blue” seamlessly sequed into the theme of Benny Golson’s “Killer Joe” which featured a brief but fulfilling bass solo spotlight, as well as one of the few improvisational interactions other than between Ruiz and Atkinson, which was briefly between Ruiz and Thoms on congas.

The closer, “Michael’s Mambo”, made my fingers sore just from looking at and listening to Ruiz’s relentless pace and continual hand movement from one end of the keyboard to the other. He intensely worked the very low register into a rumbling mound of kinetic musical energy. Thoms, whose hands and fingers were warm throughout, had perfected the aforementioned transitional obstacle(s) by evening’s end and the quartet, all featured on Ruiz’s forthcoming recording, revealed much promise for Latin jazz fans and improvisational music fans alike.

Keepin’ your ears open to the music?