Greg Ruby & Howard Alden

Alden and Ruby first met in 2004 when Ruby was touring with Pearl Django and Alden sat in with the group. They later developed an ongoing musical friendship, with Ruby traveling to New York City for lessons and the two appearing together periodically at festivals and venues including DjangoFest Northwest, DjangoFest San Francisco, Jazz Alley, and the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee.
Howard Alden is a jazz guitarist known for his work as a leader and sideman over several decades, as well as his contribution to the soundtrack of Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown (1999), which brought renewed attention to Django-style jazz guitar.
Greg Ruby is a guitarist, composer, and bandleader whose work focuses on swing-era jazz, original compositions, and related acoustic traditions. He has led ensembles, recorded albums as a leader, and worked as an educator and writer.
The performance takes place in the intimate, acoustically refined setting of the White Horse, offering a close-up listening environment for acoustic guitar.
More About Howard:
Howard Alden was born in Newport Beach, California, in 1958. He began playing guitar at age ten, inspired by recordings of Armstrong, Basie, Goodman, and guitarists Barney Kessel, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, and George Van Eps. As a teenager, he was already working professionally around Los Angeles in a range of jazz settings.
In 1979 he went to Atlantic City for a summer engagement with Red Norvo, an association that continued over several years.
After moving to New York City in 1982, Alden quickly became established on the jazz scene, performing and recording with Joe Bushkin, Ruby Braff, Joe Williams, Warren Vaché, Woody Herman, Benny Carter, Flip Phillips, Mel Powell, Bud Freeman, Kenny Davern, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, George Van Eps, and others.
He has recorded extensively for Concord Jazz since the late 1980s as leader, co-leader, and sideman. In 1991 he recorded Thirteen Strings with George Van Eps, which led him to adopt the seven-string guitar in 1992.
His recordings include projects with Ken Peplowski, Frank Wess, Jimmy Bruno, and Frank Vignola, including The Concord Jazz Guitar Collective, Take Your Pick, and Full Circle, as well as solo recordings such as My Shining Hour and Guitar.
Alden performed all guitar parts for Woody Allen’s 1999 film Sweet and Lowdown and coached Sean Penn for the role of Emmet Ray. He has also appeared with Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing, Steve Miller, Vince Gill, and Nigel Kennedy.