Ryan Truesdell is a composer of diverse musical tastes and influences with a healthy reverence for jazz tradition and an ever-broadening sonic palette. A Wisconsin native, Truesdell began his studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he received his Bachelors degree in Music Education. Following a year of teaching, he moved to Boston where he received his Masters degree in Jazz Composition at the New England Conservatory of Music. At NEC, he immersed himself in a broad range of musicals styles, studying composition with Bob Brookmeyer and Lee Hyla. He composed and arranged music for his fellow students and NEC ensembles ranging from small ensembles to big bands, wind ensembles to string quartets. He was an active member of the NEC Jazz Composer’s Workshop Orchestra, conducting his own music, as well as that of some of his fellow composers. He was also asked to step in and conduct Bob Brookmeyer’s music in rehearsal and in concert when Bob was away.
While studying with Bob Brookmeyer at NEC, Ryan began working for him as a personal assistant and website manager. Over the past year, Ryan has been instrumental in the process of compiling and publishing many of Bob’s works that have never before been available.
Ryan is also an accomplished and in-demand copyist. He is the primary copyist for Maria Schneider and Bob Brookmeyer, and has also copied music for Jim Hall, Geoffrey Keezer, Luciana Souza, and Miles Evans and the Gil Evans Estate. His work has been published in Rutgers University’s Annual Review of Jazz Studies and Chamber Music America’s Chamber Music magazine.
For the past four years, Ryan has worked in various capacities for Maria Schneider, starting out as a copyist and website assistant in 2003. In March 2004, he traveled to New York to assist with the recording of Concert in the Garden. Since moving to New York in 2006, his role as Maria’s personal assistant has evolved, and now includes managing band tours and rehearsals and most recently, co-producing Maria’s newest album, Sky Blue. He was involved in almost every aspect of the project; copying music, producing, mixing, and CD design concept.
Currently, Ryan is composing and building repertoire for his new project, a fourteen-piece ensemble, for which he plans to begin rehearsals in summer of 2008.
