Ilja Ruf – Halftime Show (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 57:42 minutes | 581 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © gpARTS
If I was the one to build the world Then I made an extra day That is just for us and only us ‘Cause seven is not enough“ Ilja Ruf im Song „Seven Is Not Enough”
HALFTIME SHOW describes the attitude to life of the three young musicians as members of Gen Z in its touching and rousing songs, through musical depth and joyful virtuoso improvisations. The desire to get to know and love the world and its people drives Ilja Ruf to compose. Because he sees himself as part of the global community, Ilja writes lyrics in English – he learned songwriting at the renowned music college in Berklee/Boston. Special musical guests on the album are Nils Landgren, trombone, and Bernd Ruf, clarinet, on one track each.
ILJA RUF (23) is one of the most exciting and currently outstanding talents of his generation as an instrumentalist, singer and composer. Building on a classical education, he works in a wide stylistic field from jazz to pop, tango, klezmer, film and orchestral music to classical music. At a young age he won important jazz awards and nominations for record awards. He learned jazz piano from Richie Beirach and Joanne Brackeen, among others.
As a pianist, Ilja Ruf plays with the Swedish trombonist Nils Landgren, among others. His solo debut album “Ilja_19 – acoustic album” was nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award in the Singer/Songwriter category in 2021. On the album “Utopia – Dialogues in Jazz With My Grandparents”, released in November 2022, Ilja Ruf enters into a musical dialogue with the German jazz veteran, the saxophonist Bernd Konrad. Growing up in a musical family as the son of the Grammy-nominated conductor Bernd Ruf and brother of Ivo Ruf, deputy principal clarinetist of the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, it was clear to Ilja Ruf as a child that he wanted to become a musician. During his school days, he studied in the pre-college of the Lübeck University of Music, then at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg in Mannheim and in the 2023/24 academic year at the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Tracklist:
1-1. Ilja Ruf – Average Boy (04:29)
1-2. Ilja Ruf – Tides (06:01)
1-3. Ilja Ruf – The Crows Fly Again (06:02)
1-4. Ilja Ruf – Seven Is Not Enough (04:07)
1-5. Ilja Ruf – Home (03:38)
1-6. Ilja Ruf – Green – Trio (08:39)
1-7. Ilja Ruf – Change My Mind (12:36)
1-8. Ilja Ruf – Halftime Show (03:30)
1-9. Ilja Ruf – La danse de la lune – Trio (08:36)
