Ralph Alessi

Ralph Alessi (born March 5, 1963) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and ECM recording artist.^[1][2] Alessi is known as a virtuosic performer^[3] whose critically-acclaimed projects include his Baida Quartet, with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, and Nasheet Waits,^[4][5] and This Against That, his quintet with Andy Milne, Gress, Mark Ferber, and Ravi Coltrane.^[6][7][8] Alessi has also recorded and performed with artists including Steve Coleman, Uri Caine, Fred Hersch, and Don Byron.^[9][10]

Ralph Alessi
Background information
Birth name	Ralph Peter Alessi
Born	(1963-03-05) March 5, 1963 (age 62) San Francisco, California
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Jazz musician, composer
Instrument	Trumpet
Labels	ECM, RKM

Alessi is known for his work as an educator,^[11] and in 2001 he founded the School for Improvisational Music in Brooklyn, New York.^[1] He has taught at the Eastman School of Music, NYU, NEC,^[12] the University of Nevada, Reno,^[13] Siena Jazz University,^[14] and University of the Arts Bern.

Early life and career

Alessi was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.^[15] 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.^[16] His brother, Joseph Alessi, is a trombonist with the New York Philharmonic.^[16]

Alessi also began as a classical musician, and performed with the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera in his teens.^[17] 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.^[15] In 1986, he met fellow CalArts student Ravi Coltrane, who became one of his longest-standing collaborators.^[7] JazzTimes describes their "musical bond" as "arguably developing into a rapport on par with the highest echelon of trumpet/tenor combinations";^[6] Coltrane once gave an interview with NPR focused entirely on his favorite song, Alessi's "Who Wants Ice Cream".^[18]

Select discography

As leader

• Hissy Fit (1999, Love Slave)
• This Against That (2002, RKM)
• Vice & Virtue (2002, RKM)
• Look (2007, Between the Lines)
• Open Season (2009, RKM)
• Cognitive Dissonance (2010, CAM Jazz)
• Wiry Strong (2011, Clean Feed)
• Only Many (2013, CAM Jazz)
• Baida with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, Nasheet Waits (2013, ECM)^[5]
• Quiver (2016, ECM)^[9]
• Imaginary Friends with Ravi Coltrane, Andy Milne, Drew Gress, Mark Ferber (2019, ECM)
• It's Always Now with Florian Weber, Bänz Oester, Gerry Hemingway (2023, ECM)

As sideman

With David Ake

• Bridges (Posi-Tone, 2013)
• Humanities (Posi-Tone, 2018)

With Don Byron

• You are #6 (Blue Note, 2001)
• Ivey Divey (Blue Note, 2006)

With Michael Cain

• Circa (ECM, 1996)

With Uri Caine

• The Sidewalks of New York: Tin Pan Alley (Winter & Winter, 1999)
• Gustav Mahler in Toblach (Winter & Winter, 1999)
• The Goldberg Variations (Winter & Winter, 2000)
• Gustav Mahler: Dark Flame (Winter & Winter, 2003)
• Shelf-Life (Winter & Winter, 2005)
• Uri Caine Ensemble Plays Mozart (Winter & Winter, 2006)
• The Othello Syndrome (Winter & Winter, 2009)
• Rhapsody in Blue (Winter & Winter, 2013)

With James Carney

• Fables from the Aqueduct (1994, Jacaranda)
• Offset Rhapsody (1997, Jacaranda)
• Ways & Means (2009, Songlines)

With Steve Coleman

• A Tale of 3 Cities (Novus/BMG, 1994)
• Myths, Modes, and Means (Novus/BMG, 1995)
• The Way of the Cipher (Novus/BMG, 1995)
• The Sign and the Seal (BMG, 1996)
• Genesis (BMG, 1997)
• The Sonic Language of Myth (BMG, 1999)
• Lucidarium (Label Bleu, 2003)

With Ravi Coltrane

• Moving Pictures (RCA/BMG, 1998)
• From the Round Box (RCA, 2000)
• Spirit Fiction (Blue Note, 2012)

With Scott Colley

• Architect of the Silent Moment (CAM Jazz, 2005 [2007])
• Empire (CAM Jazz, 2010)

With David Gilmore

• Ritualism (2000, Kashka)

With Drew Gress

• 7 Black Butterflies (Premonition, Koch, 2005)
• The Irrational Numbers (Premonition, 2007)
• The Sky Inside (Pirouet, 2013)

With Fred Hersch

• Leaves of Grass (2005, Palmetto)
• Live from the Jazz Standard/ Fred Hersch Pocket Orchestra (2009, Palmetto)
• Trio plus 2 (Palmetto)
• Songs Without Words (2009, Nonesuch)

With Jason Moran

• Artist in Residence (Blue Note, 2006)

With Enrico Pieranunzi

• Proximity (2015, CamJazz)

With Lonnie Plaxico

• With All My Heart (1994, Muse)
• Emergence (2000, Savoy)

With Sam Rivers

• Inspiration (1999, RCA)
• Culmination (1999, BMG France/RCA)

With Yelena Eckemoff

• Better Than Gold and Silver (2018, L&H)
• I Am a Stranger in This World (2022, L&H)

With Others

• Peter Epstein, Polarities (2014)
• Tomas Fujiwara Trio, Variable Bets (Relative Pitch, 2014)^[19]
• Florian Weber, Lucent Waters (ECM, 2018)^[20]