Greg Ruby / Rhythm Runners - Washington Hall Stomp [CD]

With new compositions by Seattle guitarist, Greg Ruby, and three never before recorded compositions from 1924 by Seattle jazz pioneer, Frank D. Waldron, Washington Hall Stomp brings together an all-star line-up of musicians from New York, New Orleans and Seattle. In 2014, Ruby received funding from King County's 4Culture to create new compositions to be debuted at Seattle's historic, Washington Hall - the first venue in which a Seattle based jazz band ever performed (1918). Ruby's research led him to the music of Frank D. Waldron, a - saxophonist, cornet player, composer, bandleader and teacher considered one of the most important figures in early Seattle jazz but who never recorded. Throughout the 1920's, Waldron fronted the Odean Jazz Orchestra at the Nanking Café in downtown Seattle, leading a racially integrated jazz band at a time when this was unheard of. Waldron went on to teach generations of Seattle's jazz stars including Quincy Jones and Bubby Catlett. For the first time ever, you can hear Waldron's compositions.