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Jamie Ruben

Born into the lack of turbulence of the Toronto suburbs in 1980, Jamie’s life as an imaginative daydreamer, artist, creative voice and, eventually, an adventurous musician, composer and journeyman began. From the start, Jamie’s approach to music was tirelessly eclectic and his approach to life was daring and unconventional. While having not yet achieved wide recognition on his home continent of North America, Jamie made a living for 7 years performing jazz full time around the Far East in places as remote as Kathmandu and Siem Reap, as well as Bangkok, Shanghai, Koh Samui and many more.

Recently, Jamie returned to Canada to fully realize a body of work that he had assiduously composed and arranged over the past few years abroad. Armed with a folder of compositions, a couple of guitars and a Fender Twin Reverb amp, Jamie had made it his mission to find his place on Canada’s music scene. After a few short months, he had begun performing around Toronto and recorded an album of his works with several of Canada’s finest musicians, such as Steve Zsirai on Bass (David Usher, Jill Barber, Royal Wood, Shakura S’aida and many more),William Sperandei on Trumpet (Michael Kaeshammer, Harry Connick Jr., Colin James, Brandi Disterheft, many more), Dafydd Hughes on Keys (Feist, Esthero, Julie Crochetiere, Jacksoul, James McCollum, Christine Bougie, many more) and Ryan Granville-Martin on drums (Martin Tieli, Nick “Brownman” Ali, Mia Sheard, Ron Sexsmith, many more).

Jamie’s music draws from a wide array of influences. From Mingus and Myles to the likes of Bjork, Medeski Martin and Wood, Coldplay and Alicia Keys, Jamie takes in an array of modern and old music, and uses a range of ideas, to develop an eclectic style that is distinctive, touching and grooves hard. He also attempts to achieve an element in his music that is organic and unique and would be difficult to trace back to other artists. Jamie digs deep as a composer and trusts his instincts.

Jamie’s travels as a performer began in 2002. He had formed an eclectic trio with top young players of the day, Steve Zsirai and Kevin Brow (both of whom have reached great heights as musicians in recent years). They had the chance to perform around Ontario, do a number of great gigs at Toronto venues and received enough interest from European promoters to go there for a tour through the UK, Holland and Belgium. Jamie’s unconventional approach to composition and improvisation was echoed by an unconventional approach to life, as in 2003 he left his country to pursue music and adventure in the Far East. His journey began with a long residency at a renowned club in the northern hills of rural Thailand called “The Bebop.”Surrounded in every direction by over a hundred kilometers of farms, hills and rice fields, this town and club were an oasis of Western hippy culture. Every night a variety of the highest caliber Thai musicians, along with Westerners, would perform Jazz, Blues, Reggae, Funk and R & B for enthusiastic and diverse audiences. A couple of months quickly turned into two years as Jamie gained experience in a range of styles while practicing, learning, composing and taking in local culture in what was a fascinating and extremely fun period in his life.

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220
Album Review

Jamie Ruben: Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene

Read "Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene" reviewed by Edward Blanco


With his debut album as leader, Canadian guitarist Jamie Ruben leads a quintet of Toronto's finest session and touring players in carving out a groove of relaxed and laidback light jazz on Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene. Inspired by the music of Medeski, Martin & Wood, The Bad Plus and the incomparable Frank Zappa, Ruben's music attempts a tasteful hybrid without Zappa's outlandish antics.Offering an all-original selection of music, the light grooves begin with “AQ Giraffe" and continue throughout the disc. Of ...

285
Album Review

Jamie Ruben: Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene

Read "Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene" reviewed by Florence Wetzel


Guitarist Jamie Ruben's Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene is an absolute treat for the ears. There's something deliciously mellow and laidback about this music, and at the risk of using a word that brings terror to many jazz fans, it is wonderfully smooth. Wait, don't stop reading! One dictionary defines “smooth" as “even and uninterrupted in flow or flight." That's exactly how this music rolls: it possesses a marvelously spacious ambience, woven through with fantastic grooves. In fact, “groove jazz" is the ...

166
Album Review

Jamie Ruben: Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene

Read "Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene" reviewed by David Rickert


As a guitarist, Jamie Ruben isn't a shredder; there are more notes in a Russell Malone solo than there are on Ruben's entire debut. Rather, Ruben excels at the slow burn--a few well-chosen notes and a keen melodic sense can be much more enjoyable than an exercise in finger-busting on the fret board. But first, a little background: after graduating from music school and spending time gigging in Ontario, Canada, Ruben headed to the Far East and spent ...

200
Album Review

Jamie Ruben: Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene

Read "Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene" reviewed by Douglas Payne


The musical path of Canadian guitarist Jamie Ruben is surely the story of the road less traveled. Rather than gigging regularly in some urban jazz hotbed, the Toronto-based guitarist made his living for seven years performing jazz full time in the Far East in such places as Katmandu, Bangkok, Shanghai and the even more remote regions of Siem Reap and Koh Samui, among others. Taking the musical sounds of the West over to the Far East ensured that ...

125
Album Review

Jamie Ruben: Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene

Read "Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


Canadian composer/guitarist Jamie Ruben's debut, Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene, is a very atmospheric affair, but its stylistic intricacies are not at the expense of substance. Although the opener, “AQ Giraffe," is short on improvisation, its almost Hawaiian-sounding heavy groove serves as a good introduction that sets the theme for the rest of the record. The lazy nocturnesque “Pennapa," on the other hand, has plenty of substance, with Ruben's Bill Frisell-like strumming contrasting well with trumpeter William Sperandei”s laidback, Freddie Hubbard-like sound. ...

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Jamie Ruben "Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene"

Jamie Ruben "Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene"

Source: Sound Insights by Doug Payne

The musical path of Canadian guitarist Jamie Ruben is surely the story of the road less traveled. Rather than gigging regularly in some urban jazz hotbed, the Toronto-based guitarist made his living for seven years performing jazz full time in the Far East in such places as Katmandu, Bangkok, Shanghai and the even more remote regions of Siem Reap and Koh Samui, among others. Taking the musical sounds of the West over to the Far East ensured that much of ...

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From: Jamie Ruben's Groove O Ly O...
By Jamie Ruben

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