Ralph Alessi


Ralph Alessi is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and ECM recording artist. Alessi is known as a virtuosic performer whose critically-acclaimed projects include his Baida Quartet, with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, and Nasheet Waits, and This Against That, his quintet with Andy Milne, Gress, Mark Ferber, and Ravi Coltrane. Alessi has also recorded and performed with artists including Steve Coleman, Uri Caine, Fred Hersch, and Don Byron.
Alessi is known for his work as an educator, and in 2001 he founded the School for Improvisational Music in Brooklyn, New York. He has taught at the Eastman School of Music, NYU, NEC, the University of Nevada, Reno, Siena Jazz University, and University of the Arts Bern.
WWW ralphalessi.comFB 247556848557

Early life and career

Alessi was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. His parents met as performers at the Metropolitan Opera: his mother, Maria Leone Alessi, sang in the chorus; his father, Joseph Alessi Sr., was principal trumpet for nearly 15 seasons. His brother, Joseph Alessi, is a trombonist with the New York Philharmonic.
Alessi also began as a classical musician, and performed with the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera in his teens. He later attended the California Institute of the Arts, studying with Charlie Haden while earning a BFA in jazz trumpet performance and MFA in jazz bass performance. In 1986, he met fellow CalArts student Ravi Coltrane, who became one of his longest-standing collaborators. JazzTimes describes their "musical bond" as "arguably developing into a rapport on par with the highest echelon of trumpet/tenor combinations"; Coltrane once gave an interview with NPR focused entirely on his favorite song, Alessi's "Who Wants Ice Cream".

Select discography

As leader

Hissy Fit This Against That Vice & Virtue Look Open Season Cognitive Dissonance Wiry Strong Only Many Baida with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, Nasheet Waits Quiver Imaginary Friends with Ravi Coltrane, Andy Milne, Drew Gress, Mark Ferber It's Always Now with Florian Weber, Bänz Oester, Gerry Hemingway

As sideman

With David AkeBridges Humanities
With Don ByronYou are #6 Ivey Divey
With Michael CainCirca
With Uri CaineThe Sidewalks of New York: Tin Pan Alley Gustav Mahler in Toblach The Goldberg Variations Gustav Mahler: Dark Flame Shelf-Life Uri Caine Ensemble Plays Mozart The Othello Syndrome Rhapsody in Blue
With James CarneyFables from the Aqueduct Offset Rhapsody Ways & Means
With Steve ColemanA Tale of 3 Cities Myths, Modes, and Means The Way of the Cipher The Sign and the Seal Genesis The Sonic Language of Myth Lucidarium
With Ravi Coltrane
With Scott Colley
With David GilmoreRitualism
With Drew Gress7 Black Butterflies The Irrational Numbers The Sky Inside
With Fred HerschLeaves of Grass Live from the Jazz Standard/ Fred Hersch Pocket Orchestra Trio plus 2 Songs Without Words
With Jason Moran
With Enrico Pieranunzi
  • Proximity
With Lonnie PlaxicoWith All My Heart Emergence
With Sam RiversInspiration Culmination
With Yelena EckemoffBetter Than Gold and Silver I Am a Stranger in This World
With Others