Alison Ruble

Alison Ruble

Date Posted: August 26 2008

Written By: Chicago Jazz

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10 questions
with Alison Ruble


Two thousand eight is turning out be an important year for Alison Ruble. With her debut release, This Is A Bird [Origin Records] in May, Ruble has the opportunity to reach a broader national and international audience. Beyond the music, the Ohio native has personalized the CD (and her website), using artwork derived from written correspondence between her mother and grandmother.

It also marks Ruble's first appearance at the Chicago Jazz Festival, where she will take to the Jazz on Jackson Stage, Friday, August 29, at 2:20 pm. Ruble adds the Jazz Fest to a long list of performance credentials: long-standing residencies at top Chicago jazz clubs, landmark rooms and five-star hotels, professional sporting events, local network television programs, and New York’s famed Jazz at the Lincoln Center.

Since 2003, Ruble has served as the Entertainment and Community Director for the USO of Illinois (uso.org/Illinois), a worldwide, non-profit organization dedicated to the support of men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families.

1

How did you get started in music?

My first musical experiences were in school—junior high and high school—singing in various choirs and performing in plays and musicals.

2

What was your main inspiration or motivation to pursue music as a career?

Certainly doing something you love ceases to be work. I like the communal aspect to music and I like the process: working with others to build an idea and that initial spark of creativity that can turn into something wonderful.

It's the feeling of possibilities and that there's always something new around the corner. Also, from the age of sixteen until I reached college, I had a fantastic voice teacher who inspired me to keep singing. Her methods were imaginative and her own love for the craft of music set an example that I draw from even today.

3

What has been your most important musical achievement so far?

In truth, I think my most "important" achievements come in tiers, and are always surfacing as products of musical development. Starting out, it was that first vocal recital and all the planning and preparation it entailed; that first solid audition or successfully sight-reading a tricky passage. As musicians, it seems important to perpetually raise the bar as part of the creative process and of our own professional development, with every next important achievement coming from a point of integrity. The recent release of my debut album, This Is A Bird, would be my latest, most important achievement.

4

How has your musical background helped you as a working musician?

I studied classical voice as a developing singer and took a sharp turn into jazz at the end of my college years. But I think my classical training gave me a solid appreciation for melody and harmonic development. It also taught me vocal technique and the importance vocal health to singing with flexibility and longevity.

5

You are performing at the 30th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival this year. As a local musician what does performing at the Jazz Festival mean to you?

Performing at the Chicago Jazz Festival is a particular thrill for me. To be included with the great roster of musicians playing at the Fest is humbling, and sharing the stage with some of my favorite players is what it’s all about. We look forward to the opportunity for exposure to the wide audience that the Festival welcomes each year, and to sunny, blue skies at the Jackson Street Stage!

6

How has the Chicago music scene changed over the years you have been performing here?

It has been bittersweet to enter the music scene in the late-nineties and hear some of the great Chicago jazz giants play, and as of the last few years, learn of their passing. I came to Chicago knowing of its jazz heritage, and though the faces of the players may change, the roots seem intact. There is an energy here, and a place to build. Further, its still largely a livable town where most hard-working musicians can eke out a living.

7

In addition to performing at a multitude of venues, you have performed at Andy's for several years. Do you enjoy performing in the same place for a long period of time or do you prefer to freelance with different groups?

I enjoy both! Having a resident gig affords you the opportunity to build an audience and to experiment a bit with style and ideas, while freelancing keeps it fresh, challenging you to stay on your toes and mix musically in different settings.

8

What is your involvement with the USO?

I have served as the Community and Entertainment Director for the USO (United Service Organizations) of Illinois since 2003 and as such, produce, direct and perform regionally with a wide variety of musical ensembles for both civic and military events. I also promote support outreach from the civilian sector to our U.S. military communities and their families through numerous programs and services the USO offers. I help communicate these support initiatives to the public-at-large and act as a "musical ambassador." I'm very proud to work with the USO, a privately funded, non-profit organization, and performing on behalf of the USO has proven some of my most rewarding performance experiences.

9

Your new CD is just out on the streets. Can you walk us through how you came up with the concept, and how you developed the material and artwork?

The artwork on the album is from original screen prints on fabric from a project I completed around the time tracking of the project was completed in 2007. The screen prints are the result of a long-time curiosity with a series of letters, illustrations and newspaper clippings my grandmother sent my mother spanning from about 1960 to 1975.

Years back, I discovered the bundled letters that my mother had saved, and was inspired not only by their time capsule aspect, but also by their truth and the starkness of simple penmanship on lined writing paper. The project also held special meaning to me as I had a close relationship with both my grandmother and mother, who themselves shared an incredible bond throughout their lifetimes.

The title of the album, This Is A Bird, actually came from the farewell salutation portion of one of my grandmother’s letters, which contained a folk art-inspired drawing of a bird and the lighthearted inscription, this is a bird if you can tell! The record project is the culmination of several years' work, from the beginnings of an idea, to the funding, to the actual mastering of the project. In the end, it was all very integral and seemed only fitting that the art on the album should be true: the images from my grandmother and mother’s correspondence.

10

What do you strive for in your music?

I think it's important to present truth in song. Lyrics are of course the literal communication—the story—that is portrayed, and the melody and harmonics, the musical communication. I try to choose songs that have great potential in both aspects. Sometimes one influence may be stronger than the other, but nontheless, when they’re brought together in performance, it's honest and powerful.

I think we succeeded in this aspect on This Is A Bird. John McLean, who produced the album with me, presented a terrific set of arrangements that give the audience a fresh take on jazz standards. Listening to the album from start to finish, I think it has a certain but fluid mood and I like that. I think we accomplished the feat of dusting off the tried and true without sacrificing the integrity of the song.

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