Kermit Ruffins is an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer from New Orleans. He has been influenced by Louis Armstrong and Louis Jordan and says that the highest note he can hit on trumpet is a high C. He often accompanies his songs with his own vocals. Most of his bands perform New Orleans jazz standards though he also composes many of his own pieces. Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Ruffins is an unabashed entertainer who plays trumpet with a bright, silvery tone, sings with off-the-cuff charm and never gets too abstruse in his material."
Ruffins at the 2007 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Ruffins (left) with the late Danny Barker at French Quarter Festival, circa 1990
Ruffins at Tipitina's, February 2006
Ruffins at Old Mint, shown before a set at the Satchmo SummerFest, August 2007
Tremé is a neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. "Tremé" is often rendered as Treme, and the neighborhood is sometimes called by its more formal French name, the Faubourg Tremé; it is listed in the New Orleans City Planning Districts as Tremé / Lafitte when including the Lafitte Projects.
The Faubourg Tremé on Mardi Gras day
Creole Cottages on Lafitte Street in the Tremé, 1935
A Second Line band going through the Tremé