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Ruckus (Twin Cities Jazz Festival), © Andrea Canter
“I am the music. I am my first instrument and the music is in me” –Rodney Ruckus
Thursday Night Jazz at Reverie and Saturday Night Jazz at the Black Dog will provide the venues for significant jazz commotion this week when the Rodney Ruckus brings ensembles to the bandstand for the headliner sets on July 28 (Reverie) and July 30 (Black Dog). To say that the young drummer has been creating a “ruckus” would be an understatement, from gigs from one end of the Metro to the other, including a main stage performance at the 2016 Twin Cities Jazz Festival.
Rodney Ruckus, © Andrea Canter
A Florida native, Rodney started playing drums at the age of two in church, and also picked up piano and bass. “As a child, I had no video games,” says Rodney. “Instead, I had musical instruments. I was willingly brought up to be engaged into music twenty-four/seven.” Rodney was introduced to jazz at age 14 in his middle school music program after moving from Miami to Sarasota, FL. With some friends, he started playing for tips outside neighborhood markets. Later, his band The Jazz Juvenocracy raised money to...