jam: I never really understood the comment that brush work was becoming a lost art.
tommy: I agree with that. I’ll hear some of us older musicians say that the young players don’t play as well as they used to, but from what I’m hearing some of them are awfully good. There are some amazing things going on now. Jazz seems like it’s in good hands to me.

jam: When you were teaching at UMKC, you urged the students to do a lot of listening, and learning to listen better as a drummer. What are some of the things that you like to pass on to younger drummers when you teach?
tommy: I haven’t been teaching so much in recent years, but listening is the whole thing, you have to listen to be able to react to what’s going on in the group. I try to hear everything that is going on, and of course I’m focused on being connected with the bass player, make sure that we are really clicking together good for the time, and if there is a pianist or guitarist, hearing their comping. Once in a while, if I feel it’s tasteful, I’ll comp along with them. And listening to the soloist or singer, that’s the joy of playing, being part of the whole group, being an accompanist and timekeeper, adding imaginative fills or kicks or whatever. Also, good time is essential, that’s mainly what the drummer does, and he’s the timekeeper, except maybe in some avant-garde situations that call for the drummer to add more colors to the music than to keep time. But let’s face it, in most groups what you’re there for is to keep good time, sound smooth, or exciting. I’m not saying that you can’t bash and crash when you’re playing time, too, but, time is critical.

jam: What’s it like being in such a musical family, with you and Julie Turner and your son (guitarist) Brian Ruskin?
tommy: Of course, it’s very enjoyable. My son was originally into rock and roll, but recently he’s taken more of an interest in jazz and enjoys playing it and has a great attitude about it. Julie and I were definitely on the same wavelength from the beginning, we’ve been married for forty five years. When we first started out we enjoyed the same kinds of music, and to this day we share the same likes. There’s not that much music that I really dislike. I’ve always been pretty open to everything, not just jazz. But, it’s great to be in a musical family, I feel very lucky.

jam: We almost touched on it, but I’ll ask anyway: How do you describe your style?
tommy: When I play with a mainstream group I like to swing! I like it to feel good. I like to make the music feel good, and to kick the band along, play pretty, and play imaginative. I like my solos to tell a story. And I’m still working at it! When I’m on a job I’m serious about it and I concentrate. I don’t practice much; I find that if I practice a lot at home I run out of ideas on the gig. I think I sounded good at home but then on the gig I can’t think of a thing! I’m more inspired on a gig if I haven’t played at home. I’m more spontaneous. But I notice that as I have gotten older I have fewer new ideas than when I was younger. When you are younger when you’re learning, it seems like every six months you can feel yourself growing. I’d like to have something new, and every now and then something new will come to me. When I was younger, I also tried to copy more, but as I’ve grown older I like having my own style. Not that I don’t sometimes play ideas and know it was from Roy Haynes or some other drummer, but much of the time I am unaware where I got it from. I know some of it is stuff I’ve come up with on my own. I feel more individual. I’m glad I’ve lived this long to realize that. I was considered a good drummer when I was young, but never a trend setter. I play out of the vocabulary of the great drummers that I listened to, like Roy, Max Roach, Joe Morello, Buddy Rich, Shelly Manne, and so many others.

jam: For a number of years you have been the “house drummer”
for the Topeka Jazz Workshop and the Kansas City Jazz Workshop/Jazz Ambassadors’ Concert Series.
tommy: I was called to do that in 1979. At that time it was called the Kansas City Friends of Jazz, and the Topeka Jazz Workshop.
They asked me to put a rhythm section together for the different people who would come to town. So I got Paul Smith on piano, because I knew that Paul knew a lot of tunes and he’s an excellent accompanist. I got Bob Branstetter on bass; I was working with him at the time in Pete Eye’s trio. Bob is one of those bass players who is extremely solid, and he has an ear and mind second to none as far as finding right notes. You have a lot of people who are virtuoso players, are excellent players, but Bob has a talent for finding the right notes. The musicians who were brought in over the years play a lot of standards, and if they’d name a tune, he knows it. And if he doesn’t, by the second chorus he knows it; he has that kind of ear. So I chose him on bass. I’ve been doing this series ever since, with some changes. Paul dropped out, and we got Russ Long for awhile, and Joe Cartwright some, and have used different bass players the past few years like Gerald Spaits and Bob Bowman. Some of that was due to the request of Jim Monroe; he wanted to have some different players. And some guys fit the featured artist’s style better than others, I thought. We usually have mainstream players, I think the first one we did was with Gary Foster and Red Rodney, and followed by Al Cohn and Ruby Braff, there have been so many great musicians I had the chance to play with. Bill Watrous, Urbie Green, Bob Brookmeyer, Carl Fontana, and that’s just trombone players! Jack Sheldon, Conte Condoli, Doc Cheatham, the list is hard to believe, people I’ve had a chance to play with.

Tommy Ruskin, to me, is the
heartbeat of KC jazz

I’ve been hearing him play since my high school days and was always drawn to his musical approach. He is also a great showman when he wants to be, but it never overshadows the music, and his vocabulary on the drums is sophisticated and deeply rooted in swing. I got to know him while I was living in KC in the ‘90s…His contribution to the KC scene, not only through his playing, but through the countless jam sessions he hosts has influenced and inspired so many players besides myself. That’s quite a gift he is giving us all! A short story — a year and a half ago over Christmas, I broke my collar bone and could not make the live broadcast from KC with Karrin Allyson for NPR. This happened less than a week before the gig. I called Tommy and said I had a question for him that required his answer to be “yes” — could he get out of his NY’s gig to cover mine? He kind of laughed and said sure, he would step in and cover for me, get a sub for his gig, arrange to learn a bunch of tunes (not easy ones) at the last minute, etc... We did a “rehearsal” over the phone and he played beautifully that night — I know because I listened to the radio! The way he handled this whole situation brought my respect and admiration for him full circle. He really stepped up to the plate for all of us. So, on the bandstand and off, you can count on Tommy to be a true gentleman and a good friend. I am honored to say he is my friend.”

—Todd Strait

Tommy’s time is
crystalline in nature

—just sparkling! His knowledge of the material he performs is a result of long years of playing with the same groups and individuals. This is an aspect of jazz that is somewhat lacking in some of the great young jazz players that are teeming in Kansas City at this time. Great players, but they don’t know any tunes without reading them out of a book. Like Dexter Gordon said: ’If you’re going to play a tune you should know something of the lyrics.’ I’d bet Tommy could sing a lot of tunes. That means knowing the composition, not just reading it out of a book. Tommy’s playing reminds me of many of the great jazz drummers. Shelley Manne as well as Morello come to mind and the crisp brush work of Ed Thigpen and Ben Riley. Tommy’s soloing is so melodic and so swinging that it’s a joy to hear him do a solo or trade fours. I first heard Tommy when I was only 15 or 16, and he was swinging then and he’s swinging now! Swing on Tommy!”

—Arnold Young

I first saw Tommy

perform at Yaadboids at the old downtown airport in the late 1970s. He and Bob Branstetter were backing Pat Metheny. Although Pat was breaking big with his own fusion band he was in town and took a gig playing standards. Incredible playing all around. I was only 16 and didn’t particularly even care for jazz, but they knocked my socks off! I went to hear Pat, but discovered Kansas City jazz legend, Tommy Ruskin. Wow!
“The first thing that comes to mind regarding Tommy’s playing is his ability as an accompanist. I suppose his many years of Jam Sessions have given him an edge, but I’d say he’s the best drumming accompanist I know of. He is complementary, but knows when to drive a soloist, or to lay back, and always makes other players sound better than they would without him. His sense of swing feel is infectious, only to be outdone by his dramatic use of the dynamic spectrum and an uncanny sense of timing in ensemble interaction. As a soloist his use of the form and melody of the tune is impeccable... reminds me of other chamber jazz drum set virtuosi, such as Joe LaBarbera and Jeff Hamilton. Ask them, they’ll tell you much the same.”

—Todd Wilkinson

jam: Always thrilling?
tommy: Oh, yeah, it was for me!

jam: Any of the sets that were really memorable?
tommy: So many… You know, I usually drove these guys, at least one way, like back to the hotel from Topeka. At that time, we might have played the afternoon in Topeka and came back to Kansas City to play that evening. They are all challenging and fun, and the guys are always gentlemen and of course great players, players that I idolized and had listened to them on recordings. Always a thrill.

jam: Al Cohn?
tommy: Yes, very nice, he was here with Ruby Braff. I got to play with them twice. I remember one time, I was driving them back to Kansas City from Topeka, they were staying at the hotel across from Jardine’s, it used to be called the Plaza Inn. This is usually where they put these guys up when they came to town. Well, being sort of a naive kind of a guy, I said to them, ‘you know, you’re staying on the Country Club Plaza, there are a lot of shops, it’s real decorative, you might want to go shopping.’ Al says to Ruby, ‘Ruby, I don’t want to go shopping, do you want to go shopping?’ (laughs)

jam: And so we have another Al Cohn story! How about Bob Brookmeyer?
tommy: I played with Bob one time, it was with Bob Branstetter on bass and Danny Embrey on guitar. I actually recorded that on a little tape recorder, I have it somewhere. He was fun to work with. This was in the ‘80’s. I think we just played in Kansas City, not in Topeka. He’s always been one of my favorite players. I love the things he did with Stan Getz, and the recordings with Gerry Mulligan, the Concert Jazz Band. I like what he’s doing now, too. He’s an amazing talent. He has a wonderful sense of humor in his playing. Plus, he has a great sound.

jam: Tell me about your time with Marilyn Maye.
tommy: She was married to Sammy Tucker; he was a fantastic piano player, a great jazz pianist and a wonderful
accompanist. I learned a lot working with both of them – of course; I learned a lot from everybody I had a chance to work with. They were both great, Marilyn is still just as great today, maybe better than she was then, and she was great then. I recorded her first full-length she did, one recorded in Kansas City called Marilyn, The Most, this is what got the attention of Steve Allen, who then brought her to the attention of RCA Victor. It was recorded here in town at the Damon Recording Studio. It was all tunes written by Carl Bolte. Steve Allen
heard it, he got her on his show, and then she made the RCA recordings. I was with her when this all came down, between 1962 and 1967. I was on her second RCA record, The Second of Maye- Live at the Living Room. Sammy was on piano, Mundell Lowe on guitar, George Duvivier was on bass. Ed Shaughnessy was on conga and tambourine. So I got to know Ed, and took a lesson
from him. I got to go to the studio when the band rehearsed for the Tonight Show, and Ed was on drums there. So I got to hang out with the guys and listen to the stories in the cafeteria. I was with her when Peter Matz, who arranged her third record for RCA, called The Lamp Is Low, would come to different places she was playing around the country. He’d listen to what she was doing and talk to her about what tunes they were going to do. It’s a real pretty ballad album, nice string arrangements by Peter.

jam: You had the opportunity to join Stan Getz.
tommy: I got an offer, there was a guy in town named Howard Rittmaster, he was a friend of Stan’s. He knew that I loved Stan’s playing. Stan was talking to him and said he needed a drummer. Howard recommended me to him. It’s a sad story for me, because I wasn’t confident enough to take the job. I did go out to Stan’s house in New York and got to play with him one afternoon, he seemed to like my playing, he was complimentary. I got to hang out with him and his wife. He was having a recording studio put into his house. This was in 1978. Andy Laverne was his pianist then, Mike Richmond on bass, and there was a percussionist.

jam: Many musicians in town studied with John Elliott,
you worked with him.
tommy: I played with him for five years, at the Playboy
Club. He’s a piano player, but his reputation is as a teacher, he taught many of the great young players in town. Pat Metheny talks about him. Larry Williams, who you recently wrote about in JAM, was a saxophone player when he went to John. He’s a heck of a saxophone player. John told me that in two years that Larry was playing the piano. And when John says ‘playing the piano’, he means he was good, was really playing! Anyway, I worked with John in the show room at the Playboy Club. I started to play there in Pete Eye’s group, in 1967; I worked with Pete for two years. Then, John needed a drummer; I guess I played with him there at the show room for about four years. We backed up the Playboy circuit performers, the comedians and singers that traveled on the Playboy circuit. The first person I played with there was a good singer named Hal Frazier, an unknown but fantastic singer. It was a lot of fun. I talk to John every now and then. There were also people like Morey Amsterdam, who was on The Dick Van Dyke Show. And Louis Nye. They brought Marilyn Maye in several times. I also worked there with Tiny Tim! It was kind of interesting, to be truthful. I got a big kick out of it. He did all these offbeat tunes that I had never ever heard of before. And he played that little ukulele. He ended the show with a medley that would last at least a half hour, all with this same beat (demonstrates). One tune after another. “You’re a Grand Old Flag”, tunes like that. Anyway, I stayed with John and Bob Branstetter, and we wound up backing up a singer named Mary Welch who wound up in Las Vegas, opening for some of the big acts. Anyway, I played with John for quite some time; he’s a real talented guy. John’s very close friends with Bob Brookmeyer. They grew up together. I think that whenever Bob makes a record, he sends it to John. They are very, very close.

jam: Anybody that you wish you could have played with?
tommy: Well, I still feel dumb for not taking the gig with Stan Getz. These guys don’t wait around for you to make up your mind.

jam: Ten minutes or so…
tommy: That’s about it! Another thing that was a concern then, I would have had to move to New York. And had to make a decision that fast! Plus, I was working six nights a week here, plus a matinee, and wasn’t sure that I wanted to give that up, even though it was Stan Getz. Somebody else who offered me a job when they came out to town to play at Jeremiah Tuttle’s, it was at a Ramada Inn on the East side. I was playing with Pete Eye out there. I think it was Carol Comer; she brought Roland Hanna and George Mraz out there, with Richie Pratt and Frank Wess – the New York Jazz Quartet. Roland Hanna offered me the job right there, on my break! Richie was leaving; Roland says ‘I like your drumming, man, want to join the group?’ I’m thinking, this is great, but where do you play? I’m playing six nights, I’ve always been so practical minded, I don’t want to leave this to maybe not do anything. Once again, he wanted me to make a decision right then. I don’t think they were really working that much, to tell the truth. So I couldn’t say yes. The following year, they were back in town and Grady Tate was playing with them. I talked to Roland, asked if they might be interested in using me again, like in the future, and he said ‘I’ve got Grady playing with me now, you know what I mean?’ When those guys offer you a job, the guys who take them are often hungry for work, they can say yes quickly.
I remember when Bobby Watson was trying to catch on with Art Blakey. He was out at my house, I’m trying to remember, maybe Pat Metheny was there, too? We were having a little jam session. Bobby was over, talking about how he was trying to hunt down Art Blakey. When Art said I want you now, Bobby was ready to go. I told Bobby that after playing with Blakey, there probably wasn’t another drummer who measured up, and Bobby said ‘you’re right!’
I remember seeing Art Blakey when I was fourteen,
the band had Bill Hardman and Jackie McLean, I couldn’t go to sleep that night I was so excited after seeing Art Blakey. This was 1956; he was really at his peak. I saw Max Roach in 1959, at the Orchid Room in town at 12th and Vine, with Booker Little on trumpet, and George Coleman, and Ray Draper on tuba. Maybe three people in the place besides us. And Max was at his peak.

jam: How did you get started on drums?
tommy: My dad was a big jazz record collector. He had about five thousand seventy eights. He took care of them, and kept them so neat… unlike myself… He had them all boxed, he’d go to different towns, Salvation Army stores, places like that, looking for records. He had the boxes labeled Duke Ellington, Count Basie. I was coming up in the 1950s, he was then buying the new thirty threes, they just started coming out in the early 1950s. I have some of his ten inch LPs. He had Dave Brubeck, he had Charlie Parker, he had Max Roach and Clifford Brown, he loved so many different people. Hearing the LPs is what really got me into it. And I saw The Benny Goodman Story, seeing Gene Krupa play the drums in that made an impression, made me want to be a drummer. I had tried to play piano, and didn’t do well at that, and tried clarinet, and wasn’t much better. So I started playing drums, and really didn’t do much better with them. I got beat out of the band, and that made me want to work at it, I became competitive, and wanted to succeed at it. So I really started working at it. I was at Southwest High School. By the time I was seventeen, I was playing six nights a week with one of the best jazz groups in Kansas City, with Roy Johnson. He was a bass player who played in Lionel Hampton’s band in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was at a brand new club in town. That’s really how I got established; I met everybody while playing at that club.
From that time on, I’ve had steady work. (Tommy has never had a day job.) I’ve been extremely lucky.

jam: When you were coming up, I guess some of the musicians from the historical jazz era in Kansas City were active?
tommy: Jay McShann used to play for our high school dances! You know, Jay had a period when he scuffled; he became a big star again later. I remember back in the 1950s, standing outside bars and watching people like Jay. The job I had with Roy Johnson, Teddy Stewart, one of the great bebop drummers, he had played in Dizzy’s band, he was from Kansas City, he came back to town, this was in 1960. He sat in with us. I got to hear him a couple of times, he was very well respected by Mel Lewis, all the guys. He was one of the pioneers of bebop drumming.
So, my dad was a big influence with his records, and I used to go down to a club called the Mardi Gras, at 19th and Vine. There’s a piano player who died a few years ago named Frank Smith, he was a wonderful piano player. He was a bluesy player, but he played like Oscar Petommy: terson, he had technique and could play tempos, and had a great trio. I’d go down there when I was fifteen or sixteen years old. He let me sit in sometimes. One night there was this bald-headed guy, an alto player and singer who came in, and it was Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. I didn’t know who he was. I went home and told my dad that I had sat in with this alto saxophonist and singer named Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, and my dad told me about these records he had of Eddie with his own band and with Cootie Williams’ band. My dad knew all about him. He knew his stuff with jazz. He was a big jazz fan.

jam: What did your dad think of you hanging out at 19th and Vine when you were fourteen?
tommy: They really didn’t mind, I guess. I always worked. I worked to buy my drums. When I was ten to thirteen, I’d work at concession stands at Swope Park, and saved up enough to buy my drums. They knew I was kind of independent, and I was lucky that they let me do what I wanted to do. I’d take the bus or the streetcar down to these places.

We mentioned Steve Allen before, I remember when I was a kid, my dad used to set up a recorder in front of the television, have a microphone right in front of the TV speaker, and record the music played by Steve’s guests. He had great people, like Miles Davis and Stan Getz, and he had great taste in singers. Steve and Eydie got their start there, and Andy Williams, and many others. He knew the great jazz players, and could recognize new talent. Steve wrote some great songs, too. I got to play his show with Marilyn out in Las Vegas, the Steve Allen Show at the Thunderbird Hotel. Terry Gibbs was the band leader, and I sat next to Carl Fontana, he was in that band.

jam: It’s apparent that you’ve listened to and enjoyed a lot of great music, and quite a variety of music.
tommy: I loved everybody, and still do. There are so many great players. It’s the only way to be, you have to keep an open mind, and it’s just more enjoyable that way.

Tommy plays at The Majestic Steakhouse in Kansas City with his own group with Julie Turner on Mondays and Thursdays, and with Bram Wijnands on Fridays and Saturdays. He also continues to play in the Topeka Jazz Workshop series, and will often appear with groups at Jardine’s, the Blue Room, and other local clubs.