Hilton Ruiz

Born May 29, 1952, died June 6, 2006, Hilton was a Puerto Rican-American jazz pianist in the Afro-Cuban mold, but was also a talented bebop player and someone who I called a friend. I had hired Hilton to perform at The Newark Museum, Jazz in the Garden Series last year. He was to perform on July 2 but he did not live to see that day. I still have his signed contract that I cannot part with.

Below is a message from Sue Terry that includes some video that was shot during his visit to New Orleans where his life was taken away. We miss him terribly but he still lives on.

Many of you will remember that my friend and colleague Hilton Ruiz was killed in New Orleans one year ago, when he went down for a photo shoot for the album we had just finished recording. It's a great lineup (with accompanying filmed footage of the record date) featuring Hilton, Dafnis Prieto, Yomo Toro, Leon Lee Dorsey, Renato Thoms, and a horn section of me, Lew Soloff and Dick Griffin.

The record label, M27, has released a very engaging promotional video. The video is a little over five minutes. At the end, we are playing All Blues from the record date. It ends with my alto solo behind the voiceover; you can hear the music really well. [I still think about Hilton almost every day.]

Marco from M27 World Label, was with him in New Orleans, and you will also see footage of Hilton the day before he died. Marco has done a tremendous job in documenting Hilton's career in the years before his death. He may be gone, but I am quite certain his reputation will continue to
grow.

Also, watch a video also produced by M27 productions.