Born in 1985, New York based bass-player Ruben Samama started to play and write music from the age of 12. Born into a musical family, as the son of a flautist and a composer, Ruben grew up with music all around him,
" I always wanted to make music and I don't think I ever considered any other future profession, it just happened, music was a natural thing for me to do, the only question was: 'What kind of music?' this was solved soon enough when I found out it was 'Every kind of music'. Because of this, improvisation seemed to be the best vehicle for blending and mixing all the musical styles I loved."
download as PDF
© Alice Feiring
When Ruben was 13 he was fortunate enough to have been admitted to the young talent department of the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, where he studied double-bass and classical composition with Hein van de Geyn and Roderick de Man. He continued to study there until he graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor's degree in 2007 after which Ruben earned his Master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music where he studied from 2007 till 2009 on a presidential scholarship under the inspiring guidance of Jay Anderson, Dave Liebman, Garry Dial, Phil Markowitz and Jason Moran.
Besides being a versatile sideman, Ruben has worked on many other projects where he can be heard as a composer and/or bandleader. Ruben has written numerous pieces for film and theatre which have been performed throughout Europe by prominent groups such as ZTHollandia and Toneelgroep Amsterdam. In 2007 Ruben released his debut cd as a bandleader ("Hotaru" OAPrecords), which was internationally received with all 5 star reviews.
Ruben has been fortunate enough to have shared the stage with musicians such as Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker, Bob Mintzer, Steve Slagle, Ambrose Akimunsire, Alexandra Grimal, Ted Poor, Fabian Almazan and performs internationally with Colombian singer Lucia Pulido and the European formation Subtone.
Ruben has been a recipient of:
PB Culture foundation scholarship
Deloitte Award 2010
VSB foundation scholarship
the Fulbright foundation scholarship
NFPK+ scholarship
AJTA award 2006