HR Jazz Lecture Series - Mark Ruffin

"If music is a spirit, I have been on a spiritual quest for decades. Although I have only found my spirituality in the last dozen years or so.

That spirit however, jazz in particular, has followed me around since I was a toddler in my parents record store on the West Side of Chicago. Just the fact that we lived next door to Dinah Washington and the father of the recently departed guitarist Phil Upchurch was my dad’s landlord is early evidence.

Family, mentors, education and spirituality are the foundational pillars on which I built a successful 45 plus years in jazz media. Luck, humility, passion and confidence were the building blocks that sustained it.

Building a successful career around these notions has not been totally traditional or even planned. As a kid, I looked to famous jazz and R&B musicians for inspiration and direction. As an adult, sometimes it has been otherworldly to gravitate and mix not only in the jazz orbit but also with well-known celebrities.

As a Black man, one of the most surprising things I want to share is the racism I’ve encountered while trying to disseminate the music of my own people. The power to deal with that comes from strength and lessons learned from powerful mentors.

I want to share some of the lessons learned and/or the life altering advice that helped me sustain my work as well as mine mental and physical health. Hear how some of those people including Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Kenny Loggins, Oprah Winfrey and Norman Lear changed my life, and how my three sons are now extending it."

Mark Ruffin
AWARD WINNING JOURNALIST, PRODUCER, EMCEE, AUTHOR AND MUSIOLOGIST
PROGRAM DIRECTOR, ANNOUNCER FOR SIRIUS XM REAL JAZZ