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Ralph Alessi

Trumpeter/Composer Ralph Alessi was born in San Francisco, CA, the son of classical trumpeter Joe Alessi and opera singer Maria Leone. After taking degrees in jazz trumpet and bass—he studied under the legendary Charlie Haden at CalArts—he set out for New York, where he swiftly became an ubiquitous presence on the downtown scene. He's been a frequent collaborator with such notable musicians as Steve Coleman, Jason Moran, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, Fred Hersch, Uri Caine and Marc Copland.

Alessi has recorded nine albums of original compositions which draw on everything from post-bop to neo classical music. He currently records for the ECM record label including his 2016 release Quiver. In 2018, he will release a new This Against That record on the label. As an educator, Ralph is an Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at University of Nevada-Reno as well as the director of the School for Improvisational Music.

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7
Album Review

Simon Nabatov Quartet featuring Ralph Alessi: Lovely Music

Read "Lovely Music" reviewed by John Sharpe


An alternative title for Lovely Music by Russian-born, German -based pianist Simon Nabatov might be Greatest Hits. He has selected some of his most tuneful works from across his career for interpretation by a quintet which includes American trumpeter Ralph Alessi in a one-off performance. Completing the lineup of this 2021 live date from Nabatov's home from home, Loft in Cologne, are more regular colleagues saxophonist Sebastian Gille, bassist David Helm and drummer Leif Berger. However, it presents not as ...

Album Review

Lucian Ban, Mat Maneri: Oedipe Redux

Read "Oedipe Redux" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Pur se da venticinque anni residente negli U.S.A., il pianista Lucian Ban non ha mai smesso di coltivare le sue radici rumene, che spesso anzi caratterizzano sottilmente la sua prolifica produzione artistica. In particolare, assieme al violista Mat Maneri --con il quale collabora assai spesso, contribuendo recentemente al suo album Ash --ha più volte proposto apprezzati lavori ispirati alla tradizione popolare rumena (Transilvanian Dance (ECM 2013), Transilvanian Folk Songs (Sunnyside 2020), mentre già nel 2010 aveva presentato sempre per Sunnyside ...

3
Radio & Podcasts

Fire! Orchestra, Ralph Alessi, Ron Caines & Karl Evangelista

Read "Fire! Orchestra, Ralph Alessi, Ron Caines & Karl Evangelista" reviewed by Maurice Hogue


Putting this episode together was a most enjoyable time; there was so much to choose out of a whack of new releases with a few “memories" too. On the new release side, you'll hear music from The Netherlands (saxophonist Hristo Goleminov, guitarist Ella Zirina and Tale Tellers From A Timeless Tribe), English free jazz saxophonist Ron Caines with the Raines-Archer Axis, California guitarist Karl Evangelista, the great trumpeter Ralph Alessi, drummer Jochen Rueckert, and the eclectic and usually- unpredictable Fire! ...

41
Liner Notes

Yelena Eckemoff: I Am a Stranger in This World

Read "Yelena Eckemoff: I Am a Stranger in This World" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Russian-born pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff began setting verses from the Bible's Book of Psalms shortly after her conversion to Christianity, even before her emigration to the United States. But she waited until she had considerable experience working with jazz musicians before producing her jazz arrangements. They were first recorded on her album Better Than Gold and Silver [L&H Production, 2018], which presented ten Psalm settings in both vocal and instrumental versions. The detailed story of how Yelena Eckemoff came to set ...

15
Album Review

Francesca Han & Ralph Alessi: Exude

Read "Exude" reviewed by Ian Patterson


The first duo recording from pianist Francesca Han and trumpeter Ralph Alessi has been a while coming, the pair first having met in New York in 2011. Shortly thereafter, Han left the Big Apple—closing the book on an eight-year sojourn--though not before recording the highly impressive Illusion (NatSat Music, 2012), which featured Alessi, Drew Gress, Corcoran Holt and Justin Brown. A decade on, Han and Alessi reunite on Exude. This joint effort is aptly named as neither holds back, though ...

5
Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double: March

Read "March" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


This is the second release by drummer and vibraphonist Tomas Fujiwara's unique double trio with himself and Gerald Cleaver on drums, Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook on guitar and Taylor Ho Bynum and Ralph Alessi on brass, a group that can be configured as two trios, three pairs of instruments or something in between. The sound of the resulting combinations can come out ambient or raucous, but tends towards an angular prog-jazz fusion sound, that can pack the punch of ...

9
Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double: March

Read "March" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Drummer, composer and vibraphonist Tomas Fujiwara did not set out to rebut the saying “familiarity breeds contempt," but March from his sextet Triple Double does just that. His combination of three pairs of double instruments—guitarists Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook, cornet/trumpets Taylor Ho Bynum and Ralph Alessi, plus double drummers Gerald Cleaver and Tomas Fujiwara himself—creates respect, the opposite of contempt. The harmonious and organic nature of this music, first heard on their self-titled debut album Triple Double (Firehouse 12, ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Alessi

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Alessi

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Ralph Alessi's birthday today!

Trumpeter/Composer Ralph Alessi was born in San Francisco, CA, the son of classical trumpeter Joe Alessi and opera singer Maria Leone. After taking degrees in jazz trumpet and bass—he studied under the legendary Charlie Haden at CalArts—he set out for New York, where he swiftly became an ubiquitous presence on the downtown scene. He's been a frequent collaborator with such notable musicians as Steve Coleman, Jason Moran, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Alessi

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Alessi

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Ralph Alessi's birthday today!

Trumpeter/Composer Ralph Alessi was born in San Francisco, CA, the son of classical trumpeter Joe Alessi and opera singer Maria Leone. After taking degrees in jazz trumpet and bass—he studied under the legendary Charlie Haden at CalArts—he set out for New York, where he swiftly became an ubiquitous presence on the downtown scene. He's been a frequent collaborator with such notable musicians as Steve Coleman, Jason Moran, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Alessi

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Alessi

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Ralph Alessi's birthday today!

Trumpeter/Composer Ralph Alessi was born in San Francisco, CA, the son of classical trumpeter Joe Alessi and opera singer Maria Leone. After taking degrees in jazz trumpet and bass—he studied under the legendary Charlie Haden at CalArts—he set out for New York, where he swiftly became an ubiquitous presence on the downtown scene. He's been a frequent collaborator with such notable musicians as Steve Coleman, Jason Moran, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Alessi

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Alessi

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Ralph Alessi's birthday today!

Trumpeter/Composer Ralph Alessi was born in San Francisco, CA, the son of classical trumpeter Joe Alessi and opera singer Maria Leone. After taking degrees in jazz trumpet and bass—he studied under the legendary Charlie Haden at CalArts—he set out for New York, where he swiftly became an ubiquitous presence on the downtown scene. He's been a frequent collaborator with such notable musicians as Steve Coleman, Jason Moran, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Alessi

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Alessi

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Ralph Alessi's birthday today!

Trumpeter/Composer Ralph Alessi was born in San Francisco, CA, the son of classical trumpeter Joe Alessi and opera singer Maria Leone. After taking degrees in jazz trumpet and bass—he studied under the legendary Charlie Haden at CalArts—he set out for New York, where he swiftly became an ubiquitous presence on the downtown scene. He\'s been a frequent collaborator with such notable musicians as Steve Coleman, Jason Moran, Don Byron... Read more. ...

Education

Renowned Trumpeter Ralph Alessi And Saxophonist Brian Levy Join New England Conservatory Jazz Studies Faculty

Renowned Trumpeter Ralph Alessi And Saxophonist Brian Levy Join New England Conservatory Jazz Studies Faculty

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications

New England Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Department has hired two renowned musicians to join the faculty: jazz trumpeter/composer Ralph Alessi who will teach trumpet and improvisation and jazz saxophonist Brian Levy who will teach both saxophone and music history and musicology. “I’m thrilled that Ralph Alessi has agreed to join our faculty,” said Ken Schaphorst, Chair of NEC’s Jazz Studies Department. His experience, both as an artist and as an educator, will provide a tremendous resource for our students.” Schaphorst is ...

98

Recording

Trumpetman Ralph Alessi Fields Powerful Quintet for "Wiry Strong"

Trumpetman Ralph Alessi Fields Powerful Quintet for "Wiry Strong"

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards

In the struggle to stay ahead and/or catch up in these difficult economic times, the distractions and out-and-out traumas of survival can take us away from the good things that come by us in spite of all. That in part happened to me in the last week or so. Ralph Alessi and This Against That's Wiry Strong (Clean Feed 220) played numerous times on my system, yet it failed to register with me. I was elsewhere in my head. Then ...

89

Performance / Tour

Ralph Alessi in a Quartet at the Jazz Standard

Ralph Alessi in a Quartet at the Jazz Standard

Source: AAJ Staff

Ralph Alessi has never had a problem with precision or grappled publicly with the mechanics of his art. His trumpet tone conveys a rounded luminescence, like the moon in full phase, and his technique is an astonishment of fluency. The challenge for him, at least as a bandleader, revolves around emotional expressiveness, along with the issue of purpose. At times it can seem as if Mr. Alessi favors open-endedness because he doesn't trust his own conclusions or his means of ...

148

Interview

An Educational Conversation With Jazz Trumpeter and Teacher Ralph Alessi

An Educational Conversation With Jazz Trumpeter and Teacher Ralph Alessi

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner

Trumpeter Ralph Alessi has carved out an excellent reputation for himself since moving from California to New York in 1991. His music tends to walk a fine line between outright avant-garde and modern bebop, creating challenging music that never loses a sense of swing or groove. This is once again apparent on the brand-new 'Cognitive Dissonance,' his seventh album as a leader. When not helming his own small groups, he can be found playing with Ravi Coltrane, Uri Caine, Don ...

164

Performance / Tour

Ralph Alessi at Firehouse 12 This Friday 5/16

Ralph Alessi at Firehouse 12 This Friday 5/16

Source: Improvised Communications

On Friday, May 16th New Haven's Firehouse 12 will present a two-set performance by New York trumpeter/composer Ralph Alessi and his all-star quintet, This Against That. The group, which skillfully blends jazz with pop and contemporary classical music, features saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, pianist Andy Milne, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Mark Ferber. This performance will follow the band's European tour (Italy, France, Switzerland and the UK) and feature Alessi's meditative compositions ranging from song forms to pieces featuring free improvisation. ...

"An individualist with a style and sound all his own..." —Downbeat Magazine

"Alessi's tone conveys a rounded luminescence, like the moon in full phase..." —NY Times

"Alessi has drop-dead trumpet chops and his music is as clean and airy and sophisticated and disciplined as post-modern progressive jazz gets..." —Jazz Times

Simone Guiducci
guitar, acoustic
Alex Koo
piano
Sam Norris
saxophone
Aretha Tillotson
bass, acoustic

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Mechanics of Nature

Jazz Generator
2024

buy

Melt All the Guns II

Rataplan Records NYC
2024

buy

Lovely Music

Clean Feed Records
2024

buy

Oedipe Redux

Sunnyside Records
2023

buy

I Am a Stranger in...

L&H Production
2022

buy

March

Firehouse 12 Records
2022

buy

East Berlin 2024

From: Melt All the Guns II
By Ralph Alessi

Pack Up, Coming for You

From: March
By Ralph Alessi

At the Seams

From: Look
By Ralph Alessi

Videos

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