My Life as a Musician

I met my instrument at an instrument petting zoo put on by my local school when I was eleven years old. I walked into the room and there it was, stretched out all shiny and perfect on a folding table: the trombone. Little did I know the impact it would have on my life.

In the world of the junior high school band, the culture was one of hiding behind the instrument so as not to stand out. I was the opposite of this. I wanted to sound good. I tried to be the best trombonist I could be.

In high school, our music teacher formed a jazz ensemble that played big band music and took us to festivals. I won some awards for my playing and began to feel that this is how I would like to spend my life.

Some friends and I formed a band. We covered songs by Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears, and created horn arrangements of other popular music. We played bars all over Wisconsin north of U.S. Highway 8 from Merrill to Ashland.

One day a group of professors from the music department at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire came to visit our school. There were three of them - a trumpet player, a drummer, and a guitarist - and they played jazz. I was hooked, and decided to major in music at UW Eau Claire.

In the 1970's the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire had a vibrant big band jazz program featuring four jazz ensembles, as well as the more traditional orchestra and concert band. Shortly after I went there, they hired two excellent music theory teachers from the University of Kentucky. Their teaching gave me tools I have used all my musical life.

In addition to playing in various ensembles and studying music theory, history and composition, I submitted original compositions of mine to concert performance every year. Once a fellow student wrote a piece featuring a long trombone solo just for me, called, "Remember Me and I'll Remember You Too."

In the late 1970's the jazz scene in Boston was starting to die down. The legendary Paul's Mall jazz club closed a year after I arrived, starting a trend that continued through the 80's that saw the close of the 1369 Club in Inman Square, Michael's Pub in the fens, and many other jazz clubs close their doors forever. I jammed with various groups, trying to make connections.

I got a break in the mid-1980's when a sax player friend told me he was playing the trombone part for a Latin band in Roslindale, and asked me if I would like to join them and take the part over. I joined Super Combo La Fuente when it was a basement band in the manager's house. The manager was a DJ on college radio in Boston playing salsa, meringue and cumbia for Latino listeners. Unlike many bands I had been in, this one was determined to get out of the basement and succeeded. Soon we were playing three nights a week in Boston, Cambridge and Providence Latin clubs.

In Latin music, trombone is a very honored instrument, featured many times in the context of the music. I had a wonderful time. Between sets people would come up to me with rapid-fire praise in Spanish, and were surprised when I told them I didn't speak. (I sang some back up but didn't know the meaning of the words.) I found gigs to be an athletic workout, but it was so much fun.

I played with them for a little over 3 years. Then I got married and started a business, and took a break from the trombone for about 10 years.

In the late 1990's I was a dad, playing in the synagogue Shabbos band and our elementary school PTO band's annual musical. While playing with the PTO band, the bass player invited me to sit in with some friends, playing covers. This group eventually became the band, Unclaimed Freight. We gigged together for several years. While playing with the Shabbos band, the clarinet player invited me to join his Klezmer band which eventually became Too Klez For Comfort. I also gigged with them for several years.

My stints with these bands overlapped for a time, and it was interesting to switch genres back and forth. In the Klezmer band I was part of the rhythm section as well as the brass section, hitting the offbeats and pushing the drummer. With the cover band it was more about harmonizing and blending.

With both bands I enjoyed that beautiful trumpet / trombone harmony.

Several years ago I started The Rubenoff Project, a band much like Steely Dan in its tendency to be jazzy, and also in its minimal number of recurring band members. Steely Dan had only two constant members, and now has only one. The Rubenoff Project has only ever had me as it's sole constant member, and like Steely Dan, has appeared in person only rarely.

The Rubenoff Project has produced more than 40 albums and singles, many of which can be heard on YouTube and Spotify.

I work in a variety of styles, ranging from the blues to "jazz-rock fusion." Some of the work is with human musicians, like the album "Songs of Love, Despair and Regret" and "Wishbone Harp Prayer," but most of the work I constructed alone using Finale notation software, Garritan sound bank and Garageband music production software. Music by The Rubenoff Project can be heard on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.

Music is an important part of my life, and it always will be.