Bio

From his home in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Greg Ruby followed his creative instincts to the string jazz of Django Reinhardt. Eventually settling in Seattle, WA to attend Cornish College of the Arts, Greg found himself at the core of the Pacific Northwest’s emerging Gypsy jazz scene.

As co-founder of Hot Club Sandwich, he continued to hone his skills and in 2002 was recruited by the renowned group, Pearl Django. Within the year, Greg found himself onstage at the famed Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois sur seine, France.

After five years of touring, nationally and internationally with Pearl Django, Greg departed from his tenure, but his crisp rhythm guitar, thoughtful compositions, arrangements and artful melodic work can still be heard on three of the band’s recordings; Under Paris Skies, Swing 48, and Chasing Shadows.

Over the years, Greg has performed with jazz guitar greats such as Howard Alden, Frank Vignola, Robin Nolan, and Patrick Saussois and has accompanied legendary mandolinists David Grisman and Don Steirnberg.

Greg continues his work with Hot Club Sandwich, and his compositions and vibrant improvisations shine throughout the group’s new CD, entitled And If Only.  The CD features the guest vocals of one of Greg’s early string band heroes, Dan Hicks, of Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks.

In 2009, Greg received the City of Seattle’s City Arts grant and King County’s 4 Culture grant to compose and record a CD of original works for Gypsy Jazz ensemble.  The Greg Ruby Quartet CD will feature 10 original works and feature an “all star” cast of musicians including: Evan Price, Spencer Hoveskeland, Doug Martin, David Lange and Frank Vignola.  It will also feature original artwork by Seattle artist, Richard Morhous.

Having passionately pursued teaching for over a decade, Greg draws on both personal experience and his disciplined academic foundation. He encourages students to explore their personal musical interests while adhering to a strong development of technique and theory. A perpetual student and transcriber, Ruby published the Pearl Django play-along book through Djangobooks.com and is currently developing a play-along and transcription book of the music of the great Argentinean swing guitarist Oscar Aleman.  Greg holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in jazz studies from Cornish College of the Arts.