Ruth Price

Ruth Price possesses a broad expressive range that allows her to bring conviction to whatever material she selects, yet she has issued comparatively few albums across her entire career. Her initial training centered on dance, including enrollment at ballet school during 1952. By 1954, however, she had shifted to vocal work alongside Charlie Ventura; after a period of independent gigs in Philadelphia, she performed both as a singer and dancer in New York. In 1957 Price relocated to Hollywood, where she cut an excellent session with Shelly Manne later reissued by the Original Jazz Classics label, though her next date as a leader did not appear until 1983 on ITI. Between 1964 and 1965 she traveled with the Harry James orchestra, but by the 1990s her primary recognition stemmed from operating the Jazz Bakery, one of Los Angeles’ leading jazz venues.