Benjamin Tobias Ruth isn't quite old enough to be considered a grandfather of the scene yet, but he has enough stories to put you on his lap and spin a yarn or two.
I caught up with the 31-year-old bassman of the Grand Marquis and Be/Non at the Brooksider (located in the same neighborhood where he grew up and still lives) and talked ragtime, prog-rock and why no one dances around here.
And don't forget -- the Grand Marquis is celebrating its 11th anniversary as a band this Saturday at Crosstown Station. Cheers, big ears!
The Wayward Blog: How'd you get started on your musical journey, Ben?
Well, in high school I always played in a bunch of rock n' roll bands and we woodshedded in different people's basements. I think the first live show was when I was 12, 13 -- the summer in between when I was in the 8th grade and a freshman. I went through some success -- or however successful a teenager can be -- at that.
After high school, I started getting jobs in restaurants in Westport, and I met Adam Stotts and Lisa McKenzie. Lisa was more into jazz, and I kind of went with her into a group called the Moose Malloys. It was kind of an experimental jazz project. With Adam, we started playing in Overstep. He had been in a band called Uncrush and he had that rock n' roll fix that I needed, so right away there was this divergence.
I wanted to learn how to play the upright bass so I auditioned for the UMKC Conservatory, got accepted and stayed there for three years and ended up getting very disillusioned with the stringent policies that they liked to pull there. They liked to keep it real tight. So I ventured away from that, and I delved into the free jazz and the experimental dissonance of the rock n' roll that I was involved in at the time.
The Moose Malloys disbanded, Lisa started the Grand Marquis and wanted me to play, but I didn't want to play swing at the time -- I was too good for it, I guess. Eight months later, the bass player quit the Marquis so she called me again and I agreed. Then I started listening to a lot of old swing records, old ragtime, R&B, getting into Louie Jordan and Sam Cooke real heavy. Now, I'm really interested in the New Orleans jazz and all the characters that were involved, the stories, the traditions, everything that it entails.... The first jazz recording was made in 1917, so a lot of it is hearsay and stories.
The other side of the story: Overstep played and we toured some, did a couple of albums with Anodyne, then disbanded. After that, Adam and I did the Lucky Graves. I played with the Golden Hearted Whores and probably a good three other projects around that time.
And Be/Non?
Brodie [Rush, frontman of Be/Non] was doing a Grand Funk Railroad tribute show with Billy Smith on bass. Billy called me up because he hadn't learned the stuff and he said, "Man, you're the only guy I know that can this stuff this fast." So, I went and rehearsed with Brodie and Kliph [Scurlock, now with the Flaming Lips], and Brodie was telling me about not having a bass player to play in Be/Non because of people not coming to practice, difficulties, etc. It was during a period where Alex Organ [Overstep drummer] had just left town and I said, "Well, you are too good to not have a bass player for your band so I'll just start playing in Be/Non." Then of course, that went through many incarnations since I have been in the band. So Be/Non recorded a full-length, Freedom Palace ,and didn't put that out. We have recorded another full-length, A Mountain of Yeses and we are currently working on a movie to go with it. ... And it's been 11 years that I have been in the Grand Marquis.
Why do you think that Kansas City doesn't have much of a swing scene?
Right when I graduated high school, there was the big swing resurgence with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies... Frankly, I think that stuff is pretty cheesy, but I've learned to respect what they do now. It's real clean swing and I think what we try to play is a little more rough. Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's bad. Back then, clubs like the Hurricane had Dave Stephens Night every Wednesday, I think. It was a good event. What I've heard though was that the swing dancers didn't drink enough at the bars, so the bars didn't want to put on these events for them anymore. The dancers were drinking water because they have to have some coordination.
The Blue Martini Entertainment Group promotes swing events, does lessons, and we'll do private parties in conjunction with them. There's just no big venue for dancing. There's not enough people that want to come out to dance. Not that people have to dance at our shows.
What venues are good for swing?
In Kansas City... That's hard. Well, the jazz clubs always have tables and there's no room for dance floors. The blues bars that we play at, they like to keep the tables in the bar, too, because they want to have people sitting down, too. They want to fill the seats so they can sell liquor and food. The dance floor doesn't make any money. That's why I think Crosstown Station is a great venue for this. Mission Theater, too. The El Torreon would be if they would open up the ballroom. We've had a good show at the Uptown with a bunch of dancers. VooDoo Lounge was a good spot. They cleared off half of the floor seats so that people could dance.
What's the best part about living in Kansas City?
The cost. The music. There are many talented musicians that I've gotten the chance to play with here. I think in a bigger, more expensive city I couldn't have had the time in my '20s to blow off having a job and still be able to pay my rent without living on the street and having all the spare time to experiment and play with all those different people. I probably wouldn't have been able to do that in a bigger city. But I think it's big enough where there is enough culture with our great jazz tradition, great rock 'n roll tradition and nowadays, a plethora of venues to play. You can go see a band any night of the week.
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