This Sunday night, Ruby Bishop will once again saddle up behind the piano at Vito’s on First Hill for her weekly performance. The only difference will be that the 96-year-old Seattle jazz legend will have a new, well deserved title to add to her long list of accomplishments: hall of famer.

Bishop was inducted into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame Tuesday night at the Golden Ear Awards put on by the nonprofit and music publication Earshot Jazz. Bishop has been signing and playing a mix of classic ragtime, standards and oldies in Seattle for over 70 years and playing her weekly gig at Vito’s since 2010.

“You can tell that the piano comes as naturally as breathing to her, and she holds a grace and ease that you don’t (see) very often,” said Vito’s owner Greg Lundgren. “She still has mischief in her eyes and a sharp wit.”

Blackpast.org has more about Bishop’s remarkable life:

During World War II she, like many women in her era, became a Boeing B-17 mechanic and draftsman. After the war she learned steno-typing in preparation for becoming a court reporter, then studied to be a beautician. She later took up cabinetry-making, becoming one of the first women in the Pacific Northwest in that field. That expertise paid off in the 1950s when she rebuilt the entire family kitchen. Whatever jobs she held to help support the family however, she always looked to her nighttime music career as her main profession.

Over time others recognized her musical ability. By the time she was nearly in her 50s, Bishop had achieved enough prominence to be recruited by the U.S. Army to entertain G.I. troops stationed in South Korea and South Vietnam. By this point she was also performing before audiences in London, Paris, and Stockholm. Despite that success Bishop continued to view Seattle as her home.

Seattle’s first jazz hall of fame class in 1990 appropriately included Ernestine Anderson, the legendary Central District jazz singer who died last week at the age of 87.

Ruby Bishop at Vito’s from Joon Chang on Vimeo.