Bio

Greg Ruby lives and breathes jazz guitar” states the Fretboard Journal. From acoustic swing to jazz manouche to surf music, Ruby inhabits many musical forms and brings his compositional voice to each of them.

Born in Toronto, Ruby’s early years were spent near Pittsburgh before moving to the West Coast in the late 1990’s. On the forefront of the Django Reinhardt renaissance, he co-founded the seminal group Hot Club Sandwich and later joined Seattle’s Pearl Django. With appearances at the burgeoning west coast Django festivals, Ruby accompanied jazz guitar greats including Howard Alden, Patrick Saussois, Frank Vignola, Gonzalo Bergara and John Jorgensen. By 2010, Ruby stepped out on his own and released Look Both Ways, an album of all original compositions which Dan Hicks (of the Hot Licks) declared “is a soundtrack in search of a movie.” The album reached #1 on the Roots Music Review radio chart. In 2015, Ruby’s attention turned to the roots of jazz in the Pacific Northwest with Syncopated Classic – a project which unearthed, restored and recorded the lost compositions of 1920’s Seattle jazz pioneer Frank D. Waldron. The record was awarded “Northwest Jazz recording of the year.” His most recent album, Corner Café, cowritten with accordionist Steve Rice, evokes mid-century Parisian swing bands.

Ruby is the Guitar Week Coordinator for the Swannanoa Gathering and has taught extensively including Django in June, DjangoFest, NW and the Seattle Jazz Night School. He authored the Pearl Django Play-Along Book Vol.1 (2005)Frank D. Waldron: Seattle’s Syncopated Classic (2018), the Oscar Alemán Play-Along Songbook Vol. 1 (2019) and is a contributing author for Acoustic Guitar magazine.

Ruby recently moved to Los Angeles & set up a studio in Venice Beach where he continues to live a creative life composing, recording and teaching online guitar lessons.

  1. Place du Swing Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 4:03
  2. Valse Volant Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 2:38
  3. Salut du Combo Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 3:46
  4. Where Does It Go From Here? Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 3:50
  5. Corner Café Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 3:28
  6. Mambo Tonight Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 4:11
  7. Twilight Blue Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 3:34
  8. Carte Blanche Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 2:40
  9. Rhythm and Rye Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 2:57
  10. Palo Verde Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 4:04
  11. January Rain Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 4:07
  12. Ballard Bridge Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 2:30
  13. The Cobblestone Street Greg Ruby and Steve Rice 2:36