Born: May 5, 1975 Primary Instrument: Piano
Mr Ruffler has been working in a variety of styles and settings since his arrival in New York from his native Germany. The wider public was first introduced to his musical aesthetics at the 1998 Thelonious Monk Composers Competition - Ruffler's winning composition “Lava” was performed to a full house at the Smithsonian. The music had a uniqueness which the Times dubbed “a sign of the state of jazz”. But his compositions found an interest far beyond the Jazz audience: In 2003 Meshell Ndegeocello released “Aquarium” which Ruffler wrote with Sabina Sciubba of the “Brazilian Girls”. Just one year earlier his sound design for “Flex City” was placed in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His innovative use of sound caught the attention of fashion designer Emanuel Ungaro in 2001 - Ruffler subsequently produced music for the perfume commercial “Desnuda”. As a sideman Ruffler has performed with drum legend Joe Chambers at Lincoln Center and he was recently heard with Cindy Blackman's new group “Explorations”. He has also been performing with Don Byron, Antoine Roney and Pheeroan Aklaff.
Awards:
Thelonious Monk Composer's Competition - Grand Prize 1998
Last Updated: November 28, 2009
”He spreads a tablecloth of a melody over the background, separating the
instruments, and he lets polyphony break out...”
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