HILTON RUIZ

CandidRecording(s):

Live at Birdland(CCD 79532) 

Biography

One of the finest pianists in Afro-Cuban jazz, Hilton Ruiz is also an expert bop player. A child prodigy who appeared at Carnegie Recital Hall when he was eight, Ruiz gigged with Latin bands as a teenager and gained early experience playing with Joe Newman, Frank Foster, and Freddie Hubbard. He studied with Mary Lou Williams and had an important association with Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1973-1977).

After touring with George Coleman (1978-1979), he recorded with Charles Mingus, Betty Carter, Archie Shepp, Clark Terry, and Chico Freeman, among others. Hilton Ruiz has mostly led his own groups since the early '80s and fortunately he has recorded quite a few rewarding discs.