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William Ruff is a violist, violinist, and mandolinist based in Athens, Georgia. Focusing on the multi-genre capabilities of his instruments, he has performed with various jazz, bluegrass, rock, and funk ensembles throughout Georgia. Will is the mandolinist and manager of his main artistic project, The Family Recipe, which has performed at major venues such as the Georgia Theatre, 40 Watt Club, the Masquerade, and Aisle 5. The ensemble recently released their debut album “Roads,” half of which was composed by Will. He is also a consistently gigging classical musician, performing at churches, weddings, and a variety of formal events throughout Georgia.
As a private music teacher, Will teaches over 20 students from various ages and musical backgrounds. He takes great interest in learning new pedagogical methods and strives to bring a variety of genre influences and unique technical approaches to help his students become the most well rounded musicians they can be.
Will is currently on a personal journey to expand the harmonic and melodic capabilities of the mandolin in jazz, and generally re-contextualize the instrument in modern music. To do so, he continues his jazz education privately with Atlanta-based guitarist Ben Weatherford.
Will graduated in the class of 2020 from the University of Georgia with an undergraduate degree in music performance and a minor in jazz performance, Summa Cum Laude. His primary teachers were Professor Maggie Snyder and Dave D’Angelo. In his spare time, Will enjoys skateboarding, biking, and taking care of his plants and two cats, Rubin and Luna.
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Jordi Lara is a cellist and bassist currently residing in Athens, GA where he is completing his bachelor's degree in Cello Performance with a minor in Jazz Studies at UGA's Hugh Hodgson School of Music. While his musical training has been heavily classically influenced, Jordi's primary focus outside of classical repertoire is working with peers throughout the Athens and Atlanta area in creating original music in a variety of ensembles, ranging from indie rock to jazz, bluegrass, and other improvisation-based genres. He is currently in the process of recording albums with two of these projects (Afternoon Raccoons and Canary Affair) and has been featured in a variety of studio sessions on cello and bass in nearly all of Athens' professional recording studios, tracing alongside artists such as Faye Webster.