WELCOME
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This website is devoted to Larry Ruttman the person, Larry’s books, and his podcast, which are found under their respective headings. His latest book, Intimate Conversations: Face to Face With Matchless Musicians, is featured on this page, along with links to news, reviews, and interviews about the book. You are invited to listen now to the podcast episodes about Intimate Conversations and to read that inspiring book at your leisure.
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BOOKS
Latest Book:
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Intimate Conversations:
Face to Face with Matchless Musicians
For praise by celebrated musicians and other information on Intimate Conversations: Face to Face with Matchless Musicians, please click here to visit Praise for Larry's Books.
PODCAST
Episodes: #56-58
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Episodes 56, 57, and 58 are a set, best read about and heard sequentially, about Larry's magnum opus, Intimate Conversations: Face to Face with Matchless Musicians, and all of the twenty-one world-class musicians in the book.
Episodes: #59-61
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Episodes 59, 60, and 61 are a set, best read about and heard sequentially, about Larry's memoir, Larry Ruttman: A Life Lived Backwards - An Existential Triad of Friendship, Maturation, and Inquisitiveness, focusing on why Larry chose writing as his second career, his experiences and thoughts as he approached and reached 95 years, and how the varied subjects covered in the many hours of 61 podcasts richly tell of much of Larry's life.
INTIMATE ANSWERS
In January 2026, Larry Ruttman was honored to receive from the noted blogger, Brian Feinblum, his request to answer ten probing questions about Larry’s writing generally and his experience specifically authoring Intimate Conversations. Those questions excited Larry’s imagination, resulting in his answers you will find at the link below. You will also find a short bio telling of Brian Feinblum’s astonishing and longstanding abilities as a blogger and marketer of books, helping thousands of authors. Larry is proud to have been chosen by Brian to convey these thoughts about his passion for an art which he has attended and studied for a lifetime albeit without any musical training.
​Read "Interview with Larry Ruttman" from BookMarketingBuzzBlog (January 24, 2026)
REVIEWS
A new review of Intimate Conversations: Face to Face with Matchless Musicians described the book as "a rare kind of listening in a noisy world of music books." The staff of TheJ.CA writes:
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"Intimate Conversations will resonate not only as a music book but as a meditation on listening itself. In a cultural moment often marked by polarization and noise, Ruttman’s work is a reminder that careful attention, respect for lived experience, and openness to dialogue remain powerful tools.
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"By avoiding jargon and focusing on shared humanity, Intimate Conversations succeeds in its central aim. It opens the doors of the concert hall and rehearsal room to the wider public, and in doing so, reaffirms music’s enduring power to illuminate, connect, and enrich our lives."
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Read the full review from TheJ.CA (December 23, 2025).​​​​​​
AWARDS
Intimate Conversations: Face to Face with Matchless Musicians won a Literary Titan Gold Book Award in the Nonfiction category in April 2025.
Intimate Conversations: Face to Face with Matchless Musicians was a finalist for the 2024 Foreword INDIES Award in the Performing Arts and Music category.
The Torchflame Books edition of Intimate Conversations: Face to Face with Matchless Musicians won the 2025 Da Vinci Eye award for outstanding cover art.
MEDIA
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Listen to an interview with Larry on WGTD's "The Morning Show with Greg Berg," November 5, 2024
Listen to Larry's interview with Frank Morano on "The Other Side of Midnight," 77 WABC, New York City, February 10, 2025
Listen to Larry's interview with Bill Brady on "The Bill Brady Show," 1100 KFNX, Phoenix, Arizona, December 3, 2024
MORE INTERVIEWS
Foreword Reviews has published an insightful interview with Larry about his latest book, Intimate Conversations: Face to Face with Matchless Musicians. Read the linked extended interview on music and life.
This logo was drawn by Boston artist, Holly Sullo, who apparently saw Larry as three people. The central one is the smiling and direct Larry we all know. Maybe Holly saw the one on the left as Larry the lawyer he once was. Your guess as to the other one would be interesting to know!