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Ruslan Sirota

Ruslan Sirota (born November 4, 1980) is a Grammy Award winning pianist, keyboardist, composer and producer.

Ruslan was born in Uman, Ukraine to a Jewish family on November 4, 1980. His father, Yefim, who was an active local guitarist, had introduced him to music at an early age. Picking up guitar around the age of four, Ruslan had transitioned to piano around the age of seven. In 1990, his family moved to Israel, where he continued to study piano at the Bat-Yam music school. At approximately 14, Ruslan discovered jazz, instantly showing imminent interest. By the age of 16, he was the "wunderkind" keyboardist for the then- popular Israeli jazz fusion band, "Confusion". With Confusion, he toured Israel and made several appearances at the Red Sea Jazz Festival.

At 18, Ruslan auditioned for the Berklee College of Music, where he received full tuition scholarship, and moved to Boston in January 2000. During his studies at Berklee, Ruslan displayed growing interest in R&B, funk and soul music, playing with local artists and eventually becoming the resident keyboardist in a club called "Wally's Jazz Café".Circa 2004, Ruslan joined the Stanley Clarke band and moved to Los Angeles, thus marking the beginning of his professional career.

Since then, Ruslan has been touring, performing and recording with major artists (in addition to Clarke), such as Seal, Josh Groban, Ne-Yo, Chick Corea, Eric Benét, Marcus Miller, Dennis Chambers, Rachelle Ferrell, Diane Warren and countless others. Ruslan released his self-titled debut album, featuring Clarke, Corea and George Duke as special guests, on October 24, 2011. The album was produced by Ruslan and Clarke, recorded at Clarke's production company, Roxboro Entertainment Group, mixed by Yan Perchuk at Vibrant Productions, released on Bungalo Records and distributed by Universal Music Group Distribution.

Ruslan is also a board member of the Magic Music Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to granting scholarships to music students worldwide, regardless of their choice of music teachers and/or schools.

Discography

1998: Customade by Confusion 2007: The Toys of Men by Stanley Clarke (also contributing the composition "Jerusalem") 2008: Thunder by S.M.V. 2008: Conflict by Sy Smith 2009: Inner Portrait by Victor "Too Bad" Little 2009: The Quiet Hype by Jupiter Rising 2010: The Stanley Clarke Band by Stanley Clarke (also contributing the composition "Soldier") 2010: Lost in Time by Eric Benét 2011: Platinum Hit: The Winning Songs, Season One 2011: Somos by Kennard Ramsey 2011: Bohemian Sun by Sunnie Paxson 2011: Ruslan by Ruslan Sirota

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4
Album Review

Waking Vision: The Breathing Earth

Read "The Breathing Earth" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


In terms of its history and current crop of talented musicians, Pittsburgh is a stellar music city that somehow always gets overlooked when considering the USA's major music centers. A world-class guitarist, comfortable in both jazz and popular realms, John Shannon cut his teeth in high school working with such Pittsburgh luminaries as Eric Kloss and Dwayne Dolphin. During his time spent at Berklee College of Music, Shannon had the good fortune of studying with icons such as Mick Goodrick ...

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Interview

Ruslan Sirota: A Journey Away

Read "Ruslan Sirota: A Journey Away" reviewed by Mackenzie Horne


Ruslan Sirota would bristle against the classification of “pianist," “multi-instrumentalist," or “composer." He is, of course, all of these things... which is precisely the point. Raised on the songs of the Soviet and nurtured by the fusion alumni of the 1960s, Sirota has thus far navigated his professional career with an acute sense of sound, unencumbered by futile terminology. This disregard for straitjacketing semantics extends from his musical tastes to his job description. He casts such inhibitors aside in the ...

6
Album Review

Ruslan Sirota: A Lifetime Away

Read "A Lifetime Away" reviewed by Mackenzie Horne


The Ruslan Sirota who engineered A Lifetime Away (Ruslan Sirota, 2019) has been years in the making. Sirota, who tends to view growth in terms of saying the most with the least, has developed an objective sophistication since the release of his self-titled debut record in 2011. More unified in mind and spirit, he has manifested an internal transformation into his work. Sirota displays athleticism at the piano, quickly pivoting between influences with robust musical stamina. Equal parts ...

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Music On Top -Album Review Friday, December 28, 2012 - "Ruslan, from pianist-keyboarder Ruslan Sirota, is the debut of a talented contemporary composer and musician. His playing is stellar, as are his color-filled compositions on this recording. Sirota sings and vocalizes on the project as well, with a sound that would appeal to fans of Radiohead or Coldplay as well. Sirota enlists a solid group of players on the effort, including the producer of the project, the renown bassist Stanley Clarke. He’s also joined by drummers Michael White, Ronald Bruner, Jr. and Jimmy Paxson, and guitarists Roy Kariok and John Shannon. Ukraine-born talent is accompanied by keyboard masters Chick Corea and George Duke on duets of one tune respectively. Sirota brings an exciting new voice to the scene that stretches the boundaries and accessibilities of instrumental music."

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Breathing Earth

Pavian Records
2023

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A Lifetime Away

Self Produced
2019

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Reach

Retso Records
2018

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Ruslan

Unknown label
2011

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Voices

From: Ruslan
By Ruslan Sirota

Videos

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