BFMN Exclusive...Grammy Winner Ruslan Sirota Live at The Federal Bar

You could see the excitement in his eyes. The young man had been playing music since he was a boy at his guitarist father’s knee. He was a touring musician at 16, and his musical talent had earned him a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music. He’d been playing with the extraordinary Stanley Clarke for half a dozen years - was nominated for a Grammy for his work on The Stanley Clarke Band’s last album - but when Ruslan Sirota spoke of Clarke, Chick Corea and George Duke you could see he was still not immune to hero worship.

Click through for an interview with Ruslan
and a cut from his upcoming album

We were at the newly opened Federal Bar in North Hollywood at a private party to celebrate the Grammy nominations and the launch of Stanley Clarke’s Roxboro Entertainment Group record label. Ruslan was appearing as one of the label’s first four artists and, as we all learned later a couple weeks later, a Grammy winner. He sat down with Dan Grigor for a few minutes in the Green Room to talk with BareFootMusicNews.

That night, though, he came to play and play he did! As each of the premiere artists had done before him, Ruslan took to his keyboard and, joined by percussionist Zach Harmon and Charles Altura on guitar, played a cut from his self-titled album, due out in March.

Then he joined in during the all-star jam, playing with a number of the talented musicians from the crowd who took the stage in turn, even picking up the bass guitar at one point to the surprise and delight of the crowd.

Ruslan Sirota is still learning, living fully and loving music, and clearly, it’s loving him right back!

Stay Tuned! There’s more!

Click here for the Entire BFMN Stanley Clarke Collection. We’ll keep updating it! It includes a 3-part interview with Stanley and cool jazz from the Roxboro launch party.