Cover Story - The Life and Death of Hilton Cruz
The sultry rhythms fill the air, as low lights and hard drinks complete the atmosphere at one of Latin Jazz’s newest homes, in one of the city’s most storied neighborhoods, El Barrio, Spanish Harlem, NY. Here at the new FB Lounge, I sat down with Aida Ruiz, daughter of the late pianist Hilton Ruiz. Over a bowl of asopao de guándules (pigeon pea stew) and on what should have been Mr. Ruiz’ 56th birthday, Aida and I spoke about her father, their relationship, his career in music and lastly his mysterious and untimely death.
A Boy and His Piano
“My father was a very dynamic, creative versatile
person,” declares Aida. “He was a free
spirit who thought outside of the box.”
Aida listed all the characteristics she grew
to admire in her father from his comedic
nature to his ability to act as a mentor for
young musicians just beginning their careers
in the Jazz world. “He was very patient
and understanding and he was very much a
teacher as he taught me a lot, both related
and unrelated to the music business,” she
says. “My father and I were very close. I was
his only daughter, his only child.”
The emotion in her voice was palpable as
was the intensity emanating from her eyes.
Aida spoke with the vigor of a proud daughter,
smiling and hand gesturing in that way
so common of Latinos. However, there was
a definite sadness in her voice, along with a
distinct underlying tone of anger: no doubt
of being the daughter of a father who was
taken from her, far too soon and far too violently.
“He was the person that would show you
new things, open up your eyes to new possibilities.
Yes you can do it; yes you can go to
Israel, to Nice (France), to Monaco. Yes, you
are Puerto Rican and you should be proud
of being Puerto Rican, but you can do the
things that maybe you wouldn’t necessarily
think of doing,” she recalls.
Apparently Hilton led by example, pushing
the conventional envelope by testing
boundaries and obliterating borders in Jazz
music whenever possible.
Born in New York City on May 29th, 1952,
Hilton Ruiz spent his formative years in an
area of Manhattan known as “Hell’s Kitchen”
(more recently referred to as the ‘nearly
not as cool sounding “Theater District”’).
As a child, Ruiz stumbled upon jazz in an
unusual way. Back in the 1950’s many animated
cartoons featured scores composed
and performed by Jazz musicians, more
specifically the legendary Duke Ellington.
It was Ellington’s captivating tunes that
caught the ear of this budding miniature
musician. Though he would not embrace
Jazz for some years to come, at 5 yearsold
Hilton had indeed begun to demonstrate
an interest in one of the most important
instruments used in the genre; the piano.
His mother, Carmen Ruiz encouraged his
desire to learn and with meager resources,
the hardworking single-mother bought her
son his first piano. Hilton immediately began
taking piano lessons at the age of 6 with a
man by the name of Santiago Mesorana.
Mesorana became one of the first people to
mentor and cultivate the young musician. He
taught him the mechanics and fundamentals
of playing, reading and arranging music in a
classical form.
“It turned into the ‘Ok, now you got this
talent, but you are going to develop it, now
you’s gonna work’. It became a routine; everyday
he had to play the piano. If he didn’t
play the piano, he didn’t get to play any
games,” she laughs, “he didn’t get to go out
and play with his friends. It was always him
and his piano.”
The hard work paid off, as at the impressive age of 8 years old, Hilton Ruiz was invited to perform a solo piano recital at the prestigious Carnegie Hall. In front of a packed house, the young Ruiz performed pieces by the masters of classical music, like Mozart and Chopin. This only added fuel to the young boy’s fiery passion and he continued to hone his craft, by practicing wherever and whenever possible.
Welcome to the World of Jazz Music
The atmosphere of the FB Lounge began to change as the hour grew later. The band had begun to arrive and set up their instruments. The Lounge was getting ready for another night of beautiful rhythmic fusion, and as the background music increased in volume I asked Aida to tell me more about the cultivation of her father’s love affair with Jazz music.
“He often related his Jazz to food---in fact,
a lot of his later songs were named after
food—because of the robust flavor he found
within the music,” she recalls. “Although he
played in the Latin scene at first, it wasn’t
where his heart was. Jazz was his passion.”
As an adolescent, something started to change in Hilton. A deep hankering for the thick and melodic sounds of Jazz kept tugging at the strings of his musical heart. Ruiz was destined to be a jazz pianist, and with the fundamentals of the instrument under his belt—he began to seek the help and mentorship of jazz pioneers like Cedar Walton and Mary Lou Williams.
In a 2004 interview with the Jerusalem
Post, Mr. Ruiz spoke of Mary Lou Williams
saying; “I learned a lot from Mary Lou. She
taught me traditional ragtime stride piano
and blues-style boogie-woogie. There is
nothing better than studying with the people
who invented the style.”
However studying would only get Ruiz so
far. Eventually he would have to break down
the age barriers that kept him out of most
Jazz clubs. Therefore by the mid 60’s, Hilton
at the age of 13 or 14—was trying his
best to sneak into jam sessions all over
New York City. He was constantly turned
away—but that did not stop him from jamming
with musicians outside venue doors.
At age 15 he made his first recording with
a New York based Latin fusion band, known
as Ray Jay and the Eastsiders. In the pre-
Fania Latin music era, the “Eastsiders” had
just begun to meld the traditional-style salsa
coming out of Puerto Rico, with Afro-Cuban
rhythms and a gritty hard-hitting New York
City sound. Ruiz continued to play with the “Eastsiders” for the next three years, occasionally
lending his talents elsewhere.
After graduating from the now-defunct Power High School in Manhattan, Hilton decided to venture overseas. The year was now 1970, and with the country still enamored with Rock n’ Roll and flirting with the contagious Disco fever, Jazz had to take a backseat. Conversely, the Jazz scene in Europe was thriving and musicians were heading across the vast pond in large numbers to find new gigs in the Old World. By the age of 18, Hilton along with a group of fellow musicians jumped on a plane to Europe.
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