On Stage — The Music of the late great Ellyn Rucker

On Monday, June 6, at 7 pm, KUVO’s performance series “On Stage” features the music of local piano heroine Ellyn Rucker who we lost on May 22, 2022.

Born and raised in Des Moines, Ellyn started playing piano when she was eight, and classical music was her pursuit at Drake University. After raising her family, she’s been singing, playing, and swinging jazz since 1979.

Her stylings and virtuosity had earned her a seat next to Marian McPartland on NPR’s “Piano Jazz,” and on tours and festivals around Europe and the United States. Her recordings are on the Capri and Leisure record labels. She had called Denver her musical home for decades.

We didn’t have to dig far into the archives to find recordings of live sets with Ellyn and various players in the Phyllis A. Greer Performance Studio. In this radio celebration of Ellyn’s career, you’ll hear sessions from 2001, 2005, 2007, and more recently, featuring Ellyn’s piano and voice, with side players including Rich Chiaraluce, Jill Frederickson, Ron Moewes, Ken Walker, Mark Simon, and Bill McCrossen, Dave Corbus and others.

Ellyn Rucker‘s funeral service will be held at First United Methodist Church in Golden, Colorado on June 10, 2022, at 11 am.  The service will be live-streamed and in lieu of flowers, please make donations to KUVO in memory of Ellyn Rucker. Please include “In Memory of Ellyn Rucker” in the comment box.

It’s jazz in its most organic form – live performance, captured and re-broadcast for your listening enjoyment every Saturday night with Susan Gatschet at 10 and on Mondays at 7 pm. “On Stage” is a KUVO JAZZ exclusive!

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