Musical influences

 

Ruby grew up with a heroic father, a WW2 sailor in the US Navy, and amazing mother, who was in the record business in New York in the 1940s, at Derby and Rainbow records on Broadway, Tin Pan Alley and the Brill Building, in the period of post swing Rhythm and Blues, in the offices where Rock and Roll was busy being born. BeBop, Doo Woo, Bird and Diz, jukebox popular soul music, contrasted with the world of opera, as they would attend many at the Metropolitan Opera House, where, little did they imagine, their son would actually see their son eventually perform.

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It couldn’t have been a better time for music: TV was relatively new, and for the fertile musical mind of an 8 year old boy in  Great Neck, shows like Shindig and Hullabaloo, starring Lesley Gore, Del Shannon, the Beatles, Stones, Animals, Zombies, kinks, 4 Seasons and Ronettes were a nirvana of great music that would commence to invade the universe. How fortunate he was, as he started playing violin at age 6, to discover a world full of:

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-Classical, blues, jazz, Rock, country, Irish, folk, 20th century popular music:

-Bach, Chopin, Opera, Segovia, John Cage, etc. (“etc”. means everybody similar)

-Phil Ochs, Dylan, Joan, Judy, Lightfoot, Cohen,

-Sonny Boy Williamson, Elmore James, Sonny Terry, Muddy, Wolf, BB, Albert, etc, -Bothy Band, Chieftans, Clancy Brothers, -Doc Watson, Flatt & Scruggs, Homer & Jethro, Bill Monroe, Carter Family, Hank, Jimmy, Merle, Buck, Tammy, George, etc, -Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard, Doo Wop, Buddy, Bo, 

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-Tin Pan Alley, Phil Spector, Brill Building, -Duke, Count, Fats,Teddy, Buck, Lips, Pres, Earl, Billie, Ella, Sarah, Bird, Diz, Trane, Cannonball, Oscar, Ornette, 

-Sophie, Jolson, Fanny, Cantor, Jessel, Durante, Ted Lewis, George M Cohan, Berlin, Gershwyn, Arlen, Yip, Kern, Rogers, Hart, swing, bop, fusion, free, crossover, 

-Vaudeville, Broadway, Hollywood, Klezmer, Jewish music,

-Foster, Woody, Pete, 4 Seasons, surf, garage, hot rod, rockabilly, 

-Early 60s, later 60s, 70s, Beatles, Stones, Dead, Airplane, British Invasion, Haight Ashbury,

Byrds, Doors, Buffalo, Zappa/Mothers, Velvet, Cream, Who, Santana, yardbirds, Purple, Band, Johnny Winter, Fairport, DYB Diaspora Yeshiva Band, Van Halen, and everything up until this moment.