RICKY NYE BIO

Traditional blues, boogie woogie, and classic New Orleans jazz and R&B all come flying from the fingers of Cincinnati, OH pianist and vocalist RICKY NYE. The driving force behind the annual BLUES & BOOGIE PIANO SUMMIT held in Greater Cincinnati from 1999 to 2017, Ricky has been inducted into the International Boogie Woogie Hall Of Fame in 2013, voted “Blues Artist Of The Year 2019” in Cincinnati’s CEA Awards, and "Best Local Musician" by CityBeat Magazine's "Best Of Cincinnati 2018” reader's poll.

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Ricky began his performing career at age twelve with his family’s band, and in his twenties and thirties established working relationships and friendships with artist such as world renowned jazz guitarist Wilbert Longmire, Cincinnati blues icons Big Ed Thompson, H-Bomb Ferguson and fellow pianists Big Joe Duskin and Pigmeat Jarrett.

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For over twenty years Ricky has maintained notoriety on an international level, performing his infectious blend of American roots music in solo, duo and combo settings in locales such as France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Vienna, England, and Switzerland. Ricky also celebrates a long-time performing and recording collaboration with "The Paris Blues Band", the very finest purveyors of swingin' blues and boogie in Paris, France.
 

“Known for its rollicking, foot-stomping jubilance, the boogie-woogie sound erupted from the American South during the late 1920s. This piano-centric subgenre of the jazz tradition drew its structural elements from the blues and spirituals, but introduced an intoxicating rhythmic complexity that inspired generations of young dancers. Ricky Nye is one of the nation’s leading players and preservationists of boogie-woogie, stunning audiences with unmatched authenticity, virtuosic speed and playful arrangements”- Vail Jazz