Ralph Alessi

Since 1991, trumpeter/composer/educator Ralph Alessi has been an active member of the New York jazz and improvised music scene as both sideman and leader. Called “…a highly-in-demand, adventurous virtuoso who can handle just about anything” (L.A. Weekly), Alessi has performed and recorded with the likes of Steve Coleman, Uri Caine, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, Sam Rivers, Fred Hersch and many other of the great innovators in improvised music.Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Alessi was always surrounded by a family of musicians including his father Joseph Alessi with whom he began studying the trumpet at the age of six (his mother is a former singer with the Metropolitan Opera Company). From 1985-1990, he attended the California Institute for the Arts, where he studied with Charlie Haden and James Newton. In that time, he received a B.F.A. degree in jazz trumpet performance and a M.F.A. degree in jazz bass performance. During his residence in Los Angeles, he performed with Bill Perkins, Frank Strazeri and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra to name a few.Shortly after relocating to New York City, Alessi joined bands led by saxophonist Steve Coleman and Pianist Uri Caine (with whom he continues to play with) as well as performing and recording with Michael Cain, Curtis Fowlkes, Peter Epstein, Mark Helias, David Gilmore, Bobby Previte, Tim Berne, James Carney, Andy Milne, Muhal Richard Abrams and Lonnie Plaxico. These days as a sideman he is performing and recording with Don Byron, Tim Berne, Drew Gress, Kenny Werner, Fred Hersch, Scott Colley and The Extension Ensemble.As a leader, Alessi has three recordings to his name. In 1999, he released his first CD Hissy Fit (Loveslave) a recording that Cadence magazine called “a winner.” His second CD Vice and Virtue (RKMmusic), a collaborative and mostly improvised recording with drummer/trumpet player Shane Endsley, has been referred to as “a singular pleasure” by JazzReview.com. Vice and Virtue was released in 2002 along with This Against That (RKMmusic), a quintet release featuring Don Byron and Jason Moran that received a 4star review from Downbeat magazine. In 2006, Alessi will release two new CDS.As an educator, Alessi has been a member of the faculties at Five Towns College and the Eastman School of Music. He is currently the founder and director of the School for Improvisational Music (www.schoolforimprov.org), a non-profit entity currently holding improvisational music workshops in and around New York City. Recently, he joined the New York University jazz faculty as adjunct professor.