Eileen. By Paul Goldfinger © Click to enlarge.
DICK HYMAN (ORGAN) AND RUBY BRAFF (cornet) From their album: America the Beautiful. “I’ve Grown Accustomed to her Face.” (From My Fair Lady.) Click on music player below and then keep reading.
Ruby Braff was about 5 feet tall. He was from New York,City but he often played in Jersey, including the Monmouth County Library* (Eastern Branch) Sunday jazz series. He took up the cornet because a trumpet was too large for him.
According to Jack Livinsgtone of the Monmouth County Library, Braff was an unusual character. One time there was a Sunday blizzard, and Braff called and said “Are you crazy, I’m not coming to that #@&* place in Jersey.” But then he walked in later and said, “Where is everybody?”
Dick Hyman was the musical director for many of Woody’s movies, and we heard him and Art Topilow (a Jersey Shore pianist) perform live a few years back at the Axelrod Theater in Deal.
*Source Jack Livingstone of the Monmouth County Library speaking at the Jewish War Veterans meeting at the JCC in Deal on Oct. 28, 2016. If you like jazz in Jersey, here is a link to the New Jersey Jazz Society www.njjs.org
Here is a link to another post on Blogfinger (2014) with these two artists. It is accompanied by a touching photo by Michael goldfinger, Blogfinger staff: