Biography

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No one lives, breathes, and eats up New Orleans like Kermit Ruffins. The Bar-B-Q slinging trumpeter and vocalist is bringing us back to the early 20th century with the track “Treme Second Line” which premiered on Paste TODAY.

An intriguing collection of traditional and New Orleans jazz classics, Ruffin’s new album We Partyin’ Traditional Style! (out May 28 via Basin Street Records) gives a glimpse of the influences that have inspired Ruffins since his days as a youthful street busker.

The King of Treme pulls classics from the 20th century and puts them through the good-times grinder both reinventing and honoring the tradition of music ever present in his beloved Big Easy. He doesn’t do it alone, either. Ruffins hand-picked the finest in traditional jazz to form a deeply rooted band: Shannon Powell (drums), Steve Pistorius (piano), Richard Moten (bass), Don Vappie (banjo), Lucien Barbarin (trombone), and Tom Fischer (clarinet). Mykia Jovan joins Kermit for a delightful duet on the Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons hit “All Of Me.”

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the sounds of timeless classics like “Careless Love” and “I Guess I’ll Get the Papers and Go Home.” Then lace up your tap shoes, grab a dancing partner, and try to keep your balance while you Charleston to “Jeepers Creepers.” The dancing shifts to a waltz with “Over The Waves,” the Juventino Rosas classic. And a traditional jazz album would not be complete without a hat-tip to the most important figure of the era, Louis Armstrong. Ruffins boasts his own raspy voice and pays tribute to this idol with “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South,” a song frequently regarded as Satchmo’s own theme song.

We Partyin’ Traditional Style! triumphantly closes with the immemorial “When the Saints Go Marching In,” a song that needs no introduction and a recording that will undoubtedly have people around the world second-lining in the streets.

Kermit Ruffins gracefully channels the glory of New Orleans and opens a door to a rich history of musical heritage for all who will listen. But if you ask him, he’ll probably just tell you,

“We Partyin’!”

Track Listing
1. Chinatown (6:12)
2. Exactly Like You (4:43)
3. Careless Love (5:27)
4. I Guess I‘ll Get The Papers
And Go Home (3:30)
5. Jeepers Creepers (4:18)
6. When It’s Sleepy Time Down
South (3:30)
7. Treme Second Line Intro (0:47)
8. Treme Second Line (5:06)
9. Over the Waves (6:04)
10. All Of Me (5:55)
11. Marie (6:48)
12. When The Saints Go Marching In (3:59)

Personnel
Kermit Ruffins: Trumpet and Vocals
Shannon Powell: Drums
Steve Pistorius: Piano
Richard Moten: Bass
Don Vappie: Banjo
Lucien Barbarin: Trombone
Tom Fischer: Clarinet
Mykia Jovan: Vocals


Credits
Produced By Grammy-Winner Tracey Freeman
Executive Producer: Mark Samuels

Recorded and mixed by Chris Finney
Assistant Engineers Mike Dorsey, William Moesta and Clay Smith
Recorded at The Music Shed, New Orleans
Mixed at Kailash Studio
Mastered by Vlado Meller at Masterdisk NYC

Photography: Wendy Schornstein Good
Graphic Design: Cynthia Kinney, Kinney Design
Production Coordination: Diana Thornton, www.crescentmusic.com

Management: Lexine Ruffins (lexine_ruffins070376@hotmail.com)

Tour Dates

Kermit Ruffins Bio
“We Partyin’!”

Kermit Ruffins needs only two words to hype a New Orleans barroom for one of his weekly shows, and this, his newly adopted slogan, sums up what this Big Easy ambassador is all about.

If he isn’t busy playing himself in the HBO Series Treme, or barbecuing outside his bar Kermit’s Treme Mother-in-Law Lounge, or promoting the rights of New Orleans music venues, then the trumpeter/vocalist is undoubtedly on a stage doing what he does best—entertaining people and having a good time.
He personifies the laid-back vibe of New Orleans.

But he did not come by his gifts easily. Ruffins did his homework and developed his stage persona and musical act by studying artists who came before him. He watched video of Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway until the tape wore out, busked the streets of the French Quarter, and apprenticed on stages with local legends “Uncle” Lionel Batiste and Danny Barker.

Consider his lengthy musical career. While still in high school, he co-founded the Rebirth Brass Band – a group that revolutionized the brass band community in New Orleans with songs like “Do Watcha Wanna” that have become anthems.

Rebirth’s growth and success bolstered the rejuvenation of the New Orleans second-line culture that now flourishes.

Still, after less than a decade fronting the band and touring the world, Ruffins tired of the road. He missed the culture at home so much that he traveled, like fellow New Orleans icon Fats Domino, with cooking equipment and prepared his favorite foods in hotel rooms far and wide.

He made a bold and risky decision to leave Rebirth and go solo, having no guarantees the public would embrace his new direction. At the time there were very few young musicians playing traditional jazz. Nearly all the backing musicians on his first album were decades older.

Now, Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers are a beloved institution – a must-see for every New Orleans visitor and a favorite of local critics and music lovers. As he’d helped spur the formation of new brass bands in his 20s, he’s since influenced the city’s musical direction in the 21st century. Dozens of young musicians and bands are essentially playing the same music Ruffins pioneered with his solo act. They sing into retro microphones, dress in dandy suits and perform the timeless tunes that defined a decades-past era.

Yet Ruffins has not been content to remain musically static. His live show has included elements of hip-hop since his days with Rebirth. He began rapping on albums long before it was commonplace for jazz musicians to have hip-hop influences.

It’s not the first time he’s taken musical chances. He had a short-lived progressive jazz band that experimented with arrangements of songs from the 1970s. His 2009 album, Livin’ A Tremé Life, included a version of Johnny Nash’s monster 1972 hit “I Can See Clearly Now.” It also had songs reflecting Ruffins’ deep roots in the R&B of the Crescent City, like Allen Toussaint’s “Holy Cow.”

In the ’90s, Ruffins fronted a big band with arrangements from great maestro Wardell Quezergue. He stocked the band with superior local musicians and the performances were on par with great bands of the ’40s, updated to reflect Ruffins’ effervescent personality. His 2010 release, Happy Talk, revisited that territory with a full horn section and sumptuous arrangements of tunes like “If I Only Had a Brain” (from The Wizard of Oz) and the Louis Armstrong hit “La Vie En Rose.”

With over fifteen albums to his credit including live albums capturing his inimitable stage presence (1998’s The Barbecue Swingers Live and 2005’s Live at Vaughan’s), the R&B and hip-hop oriented, Livin’ A Treme Life (2009), a collaboration with his Rebirth Brass Band brethren (2005’s Throwback), albums packed with big band arrangements like Swing This (1999) and Happy Talk (2010), a holiday album (Have A Crazy Cool Christmas [2009]), an homage to New Orleans’ traditional jazz (We Partyin’ Traditional Style! [2010]), and the party-anthem packed #imsoneworleans (2015) the New Orleans trumpeter shows no signs of slowing down.

Every year Ruffins ebullient attitude and love of his hometown music firms his reputation as the New Orleans idol. Dedicated to preserving and passing on the tradition of jazz, he is often compared to his own hero, Louis Armstrong.

On his likeness to “Satch” Kermit says, “That’s someone who really, really led one of America’s true art forms. He was really the cherry on top of New Orleans music. And now I see it being passed on to younger kids, and for me to have a role in that and to maybe do the things he did is so spiritual to me.”
Whether he’s slinging Bar-B-Q, adding to his collection of fedoras, or playing at one of his five regular weekly shows in New Orleans, Kermit Ruffins does it with joy and passion. It’s an attitude befitting of any true New Orleanian, and it can be summed up in two simple words: We Partyin’!