Mark Ruffin | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mark Anthony Ruffin |
| Born | September 24, 1956 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Broadcaster, producer, writer |
| Years active | 1980–present |
Mark Ruffin is an American broadcaster, producer, and writer. He has won the regional Chicago / Midwest Emmy Awards[1][2] two times, and has been nominated for a Grammy Award.[3] Ruffin has been the Program Director/On-Air host for Sirius XM's Real Jazz channel[4][5] since 2007.
Ruffin received both the Jazz Journalists Association's Career Excellence Award in Broadcasting and the Duke Dubois Humanitarian Award from Jazz Week in 2017.[6]
Biography
Mark Anthony Ruffin, was born in Chicago, IL on September 24, 1956.[citation needed] Ruffin's parents had a record store on the west side of the city for the first eight years of his life. He grew up in the suburb town of Maywood, Illinois where he graduated from Proviso East High School and studied Radio/TV and music at Southern Illinois University/Carbondale. Mark is the father to three sons: Melcolm Xavier Ruffin, Sidney-Bechet Mandela Ruffin, and Kenyatta Hents Philips-Ruffin.[7][non-primary source needed]
Career
Before rising to prominence in North America, Ruffin was a presence in Chicago jazz radio for over 25 years, where he was also Jazz Editor at Chicago Magazine from 1982 to 2007. He has had a varied multi-tasked career in radio, television, journalism, recorded music, and film – with a focus on Jazz and American culture in all the mediums.[8]
Radio
Since 2007, Ruffin has been the Program Director and On-Air host for Sirius XM's Real Jazz channel. 1980–2000, he started as an operations engineer at WBEZ-FM/Chicago. In 1980, he got his first on-air opportunity through the Jazz Institute of Chicago. From there: 1981–1985, Jazz Music Director WDCB/Glen Ellyn, 1985–1988, Music Director-WBEE-AM/Chicago, 1988–1996, Producer/Announcer WNUA/Chicago. 1996–2000, Announcer/Producer WBEZ/Chicago. 2002–2007, Ruffin joined Miles Ahead Incorporated which produced, Miles Ahead and Listen Here, two syndicated shows featuring him and Grammy Award-winning annotator and broadcaster Neil Tesser. The latter show was distributed by WFMT Satellite Network and was heard on up to 120 stations in the U.S. and Canada.[9]
Ruffin was the original producer of the nationally syndicated Ramsey Lewis Show[10] which was distributed by Westwood One in the 1990s. Since that time he has produced nationally syndicated programs for Oprah Winfrey,[11] Gayle King, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Dr. Robin Smith, Bruce Lundvall, Marcus Miller,[12] Christian McBride,[12] Don Was,[12] Joey DeFrancesco and others.[12]
Television
2000–2007 Ruffin was a cultural correspondent for the Chicago PBS television station WTTW-TV. His pieces on Jazz and American culture were presented on the televisions shows Artbeat Chicago and Chicago Tonight. He won[2][1] two Emmy Awards while at WTTW. 2014–2017 Ruffin was a recurrent moderator and host of the AOL Build Speaker Series where he was featured interviewing a number of personalities including Don Cheadle, Jon Batiste, Harry Connick Jr., Herb Alpert and many others.[13]
Journalism
Ruffin was the Jazz Editor of Chicago Magazine from 1982 to 2007, Contributor at Down Beat Magazine 1985–2005, Jazz Stringer at Chicago Sun-Times 1989–1997, Music Editor at N'Digo Magazine 1995–2005 and contributed to Jazziz, JazzUSA.com,[14] Playboy, Ebony, Illinois Entertainer and many other publications.[15]
Records
Annotator
Ruffin has numerous annotation credits.[10]
Associate producer
- 1987 Frank Mantooth – Per-Se-Vere[10]
- 1988 Rush Hour – Bumper To Bumper[10]
- 1989 Frank Mantooth – Suite Tooth[10]
Producer
- 1998 Ron Miller – Sleepless (w/ Kevin Patrick & Steve Watkins)
- 2001 George Freeman – At Long Last Love
- 2003 Barbara Sfraga – Under The Moon
- 2011 Giacomo Gates – The Revolution Will Be Jazz: Songs of Gil Scott-Heron[10][16]
- 2013 Taeko Fukao – Wonderland (w/ Taeko Fukao)[17]
- 2013 Giacomo Gates – Miles Tones[10]
- 2013 Rene Marie – I Wanna Be Evil; With Love to Eartha Kitt (w/ Rene Marie & Quentin Baxter)(Grammy Nominated[3])
- 2015 Giacomo Gates – Everything Is Cool (w/ Giacomo Gates)[10]
- 2015 Charenee Wade – Offering: The Music of Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson[18]
- 2017 George Freeman – 90 Going On Amazing (w/ Kevin Patrick)
- 2017 Giacomo Gates – What Time Is It (w/ Giacomo Gates)[10]
- 2018 Lauren Henderson – Armame
- 2019 Carolyn Fitzhugh – Living in Peace
Film/TV
Music supervisor
- 1997 Tangled[19]
- 2004 A War On All Fronts: Life & Times of Robert R. McCormick (WTTW/PBS)
- 2005 Mackinac Island: Mecca of the Midwest (WTTW/PBS)
- 2017 The Drowning
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award/Category | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | Midwest Emmy Awards-Winner for Outstanding Achievement for Informational Programming: "Artbeat Chicago/WTTW"[1] | Segment Host |
| 2003–04 | Midwest Emmy Awards- Winner- Outstanding Achievement for Informational Programming- "Artbeat Chicago/WTTW- 'Hair Stories'"[2] | Segment Host |
| 2004 | Chicago Association of Black Journalists Awards: Excellence in Television Award; "Artbeat Chicago/WTTW"[20] | Segment Host |
| 2007 | 26th Chicago Music Awards: Lifetime Award of Honor for Contribution to Music Through Media | Individual |
| 2012 | 31st Chicago Music Awards: Producer of the Year -"The Revolution Will Be Jazz – Songs of Gil Scott Heron" (Giacomo Gates) | Producer |
| 2014 | 57th Grammy Awards: Nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album – " I Wanna Be Evil: With Love To Eartha Kitt" (Rene Marie)[3][10] | Producer |
| 2016 | 3rd British Jazz FM Awards: Nominated for Album of the Year – "Offering: The Music of Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson" (Charenee Wade) | Producer |
| 2017 | 21st Jazz Journalist Awards: Marian McPartland/Willis Conover Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting[21] | Individual |
| 2017 | 15th JazzWeek: Duke Dubois Humanitarian Award[6] | Individual |
| 2019 | Jazzmobile Honoree: NYC Jazz Readers Award[22] | Individual |
References
- ^ a b c Altschuler, Melvin & Glasser LLP. "2000-2001Chicago/Midwest Emmy Winners" (PDF). Chicago Emmy Online. Category #14. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
- ^ a b c Virchow, Krause & Company, LLP. "2003–2004 Chicago/Midwest Emmy Winners" (PDF). Chicago Emmy Online. Category #14B. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c "René Marie Artist". Recording Academy Grammy Awards. 57th Annual Grammy Awards (2014). Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ "Mark Ruffin-Host". Sirius XM. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ "Sirius Channel Lineup" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 16, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ a b "2017 JazzWeek Awards winners honored at reception in San Jose". JazzWeek. August 12, 2017. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ "Sirius XM Real Jazz". Sirius XM Real Jazz Facebook. June 27, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ "Mark Ruffin brings his considerable skills and charm to this year's Chicago Jazz Festival". Crossover Media. September 4, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ Publicity, All About Jazz (November 19, 2004). "New National Jazz Radio Program with Neil Tesser and Mark Ruffin". All About Jazz. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ "Harpo Adds Three Production Assistants". All Access Music. July 26, 2006. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Blue Note at Sea Experience". Blue Note at Sea. Learn. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ Pont, Mike (March 25, 2016). "Moderator Mark Ruffin attends the AOL Build Speaker Series". Getty Images. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ Ruffin, Mark. "Al Jarreau- Talking about the Future". JazzUSA.com. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ Ruffin, Mark (November 11, 1993). "What is Jazz?". Chicago Reader. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ "The Revolution Continues". JazzIZ Magazine. August 9, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ "Biography". Jazz Singer TAEKI Official Website. Wonderland. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ Palmer, Brian. "Charnée Wade". Tais Awards 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ "Mark Ruffin". IMDb. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ "Chicago Association of Black Journalists". CABJ. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
- ^ "2017 Nominees". Jazz Journalists Association. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ "New York City Readers Jazz Awards". LydiaLiebman.com. October 8, 2019.
This page was last edited on 28 September 2023, at 21:24