Seattle-based guitarist, composer, bandleader and educator Greg Ruby specializes in jazz music from the first half of the 20th century. Described as “Seattle’s premier hot guitarist,” by Earshot Jazz Magazine, his most recent record, Syncopated Classic was awarded the “Golden Ear Award” in the Northwest Recording of the Year category.
Greg plays at swing dances, concert halls and festivals including the French Quarter Festival, Lindy Focus, DjangoFest and the NW Balboa Festival. Greg’s most recent ensemble, the Greg Ruby 6 performs the compositions and arrangements of swing guitar legend Oscar Alemán. Greg is a former member of the perennial Hot Club ensembles; Pearl Django and Hot Club Sandwich and has performed with Lindy Hop favorites; Michael Gamble & the Rhythm Serenaders, Gordon Au & the Grand Street Stompers, The Charlie Halloran Quality 6, The Jen Hodge All-Stars, Joe Smith & the Spicy Pickles and the Casey MacGill Orchestra. Greg leads The Greg Ruby Quartet, a Hot Club jazz group dedicated to all-original compositions; collaborates with New York and New Orleans musicians in The Rhythm Runners, a Prohibition-era dance band; and plays Valse musette and European café jazz with the Bric-a-brac Trio.
Greg’s compositions have been heard on radio, television and documentaries including NBC’s Parks and Recreation and Freakanomics. His 2010 CD, Look Both Ways, features all original compositions and reached #1 on the Roots Music Review jazz chart. As a respected music instructor, he teaches at schools, camps and clinics and has published the Pearl Django Play-Along Book Vol.1, Frank D. Waldron: Seattle’s Syncopated Classic and will soon be releasing the Oscar Alemán Play-Along Songbook Vol. 1. In 2016, he began a project call “Syncopated Classic” which unearthed, restored and recorded the lost compositions from 1924 by the eminent Seattle jazz icon Frank D. Waldron. Greg holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA.