Ruby Braff

[Stereojack]

Back to topic - I liked all I've heard of Ruby Braff too, but any comments on that late 50s Ruby Braff LP for EPIC with that funny B/W cover showing that Granny clapping enthusiastically to Ruby's horn blowing (forget the exact title - I think it's "BRAFF!" only anyway)?

That "granny" is his mother! Great album, btw.

[Ted O'Reilly]

Back to topic - I liked all I've heard of Ruby Braff too, but any comments on that late 50s Ruby Braff LP for EPIC with that funny B/W cover showing that Granny clapping enthusiastically to Ruby's horn blowing (forget the exact title - I think it's "BRAFF!" only anyway)?

That "granny" is his mother! Great album, btw.

It is definitely NOT his mother, or anyone he ever met.

I asked Ruby about that album cover years ago, and he said it's a composite. He was photographed for a Broadway play he was in, and it was stripped into another picture. Braff appeared as "Pablo", in Pipe Dream, (Shubert Theatre, ran 11/30/1955 - 6/30/1956), a musical version of John Steinbeck's Suite Thursday.

Braff HATED having to play exactly the same thing every night, as others depended on musical cues. But he got to know Steinbeck...

[Harold_Z]

This is a good one and I like the aforementioned Braff on Epic. While I enjoy Ruby's playing throughout his career I am especially fond of his work from the 50s. This is a good one -

[medjuck]

Ruby's 1958 RCA album of tunes associated with Berigan is very good - the lineup includes Pee Wee Russell. Benny Morton, Walter Page, and Nat Pierce.

That's the one reissued as a Masaic single. I just got it and it's really good.

[king ubu]

Don't have much Braff, off the top of my head just the sessions in the Mosaic Swing box, and this one, which I love a lot:

Ruby Braff - Them There Eyes (Sonet/Universal)

It seems the Sonet reissues (just one batch of 10 discs, the announced additional instalments never materialized, alas) are going the way of the dodo by now... most of them are very nice, this one stands out in my opinion!

[B. Goren.]

This morning I was listening to this one:

A Sailboat in the Moonlight- Ruby Braff & Scott Hamilton. Recommended.

[fasstrack]

This morning I was listening to this one:

A Sailboat in the Moonlight- Ruby Braff & Scott Hamilton. Recommended.

My colleague and one of my favorite guitarists, Chris Flory, is also on that, making it even more appealing.

[Lazaro Vega]

Ruby could play in the low register like no other cornet player I've heard. Though Berigan tended to the mid-and low range overall, Braff could hit the low G like dropping an apple in a bag, before twirling it around his head and throwing it, like David at Goliath, towards the head of some giant melodic idea. His use of low notes was humorous. His tribute to Louis Armstrong on Concord, Cornet Chop Suey, is another for the list, too.

[fasstrack]

Braff could hit the low G like dropping an apple in a bag

I love dat.

[thomastreichler]

I am listening to "Swing That Music", a tribute to Louis Armstrong, recorded 1969 in Paris, issued by Affinity. Braff is accompanied by Geroge Wein, Barney Kessel, Larry Ridley and Don Lamond. A highly enjoyable session (on the second half of the cd Red Norvo is substituting for Braff).

This cd is the first step in filling a gap in my Braff discography, which until now is lacking any recordings from the sixties. I also ordered his Black Lion album "With Buddy Tate & The Newport All Stars".

[EKE BBB]

Picking up this old thread...

You can't go wrong with Ruby. His level was so consistent from his earliest leader dates in 1954 to his late years! His tone was one the most beautiful sounds ever taken out from a cornet, and his mastery in the lower register was unparalleled.

God bless the old grumpy up there at the right side of Satchmo!

As for recommendations, if you don't have any prejudice against this label, pick "The Complete Bethlehem Recordings" (Solar)

which includes:

*Ruby Braff Quartet Swings

*Ball at Bethlehem with Braff

*Holiday in Braff

*Bud Freeman Quintet with Ruby Braf (part of it, just 5 tracks)

and

*The Ruby Braff Special

[johnlitweiler]

The funniest Ruby story I heard was that he was in the hospital in a coma and someone tried to rouse him by playing Pops singing Wonderful World. He woke up, said 'that's a f&*ing alternate take', and went right back under.....

Great story.

[Late]

2X2

[Larry Kart]

I survived an at once daunting and delightful interview with Ruby. An unfiltered excerpt: 

"Show business! I love show business. If I had my way, I'd be up there with dancers and magicians and lights and everything. Oh, why can't I have magic, so that when I lift my horn up and want it to disappear, it vanishes out of my hand?  That can be done with lights; I know it can! Oh why can't I be tremendous? If I were a star I'd have such fun. Sinatra -- why don't I get the exposure he gets? Maybe I should call him up and threaten him. No, no. I'd better not do that -- that is not the way to go. But why did they ruin everything? I mean, this is the worst world I ever lived in.  All I want to do is go over the rainbow to someplace better than where I was. And why can't I have my own talk show?"