Ryan Snow is a trombonist, improviser and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. Born and raised in Stanford, California, Ryan grew up playing jazz in local and regional bands. After graduating from Oberlin Conservatory in 2005, he moved to Brooklyn to continue his musical studies. He has been involved in innumerable projects centered around free improvisation but including more traditional jazz as well as experimental rock and various forms of interdisciplinary performance. He currently composes and performs in Pull, and performs in Scavenger Quartet, Scurvy, The E.R.A., and Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, among others.
I was born in 1983 in Stanford, California. My parents, Joan Talbert and Richard Snow, exposed me to all kinds of music from an early age. I started playing piano but soon picked up the trombone to play in the 5th grade band. My parents got me a CD copy of Blue Trane for my 12th birthday, which I began listening to every night, falling asleep with my discman set on repeat. I became a yearly student at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, where I had my first experiences improvising and playing in a small group.
I went to Gunn High School in Palo Alto, which had a great jazz big band led by Tim Roblee. My freshman year I became a member of the Monterey Jazz Festival High School All Star Big Band, with which I toured Japan four times and performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival. This was a formative experience, as I got to play with some really advanced and talented young musicians, including Ambrose Akinmusire, Thomas Morgan, Jonathan Finlayson, Charles and Tom Altura, Justin Brown, Ryan Scott, and Bram Kincheloe.
I went to Oberlin College and Conservatory in Ohio, where I got degrees in Jazz Studies and Political Science, and studied with Robin Eubanks. The best thing about Oberlin was that all the small jazz ensembles were student-formed and directed, so I ended up playing a very wide range of music, including free improvisation. I learned the most from my peers, particularly Peter Evans, Nick Lyons, Rob Adkins, Kevin McHugh, Kassa Overall, Matt Nelson, Johnny Butler, Andrew Conklin, Ben Purcell, and Patrick Barter. During this time I was invited to teach at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, working with students aged 12-65 at varying skill levels. This was as great a learning experience for me as it was for them. The kids learned very fast and very differently - each was developing their own relationship to music - and were generally very excited about playing until you started telling them the rules.
After graduating from Oberlin in 2005, I moved to New York City to continue my studies. I lived in a tiny railroad apartment in Bushwick, Brooklyn with some good friends and played a lot of music. I would often wake up in the wee hours of the afternoon and walk to the living room/kitchen at the other end of the railroad, only to discover a wild jam session was already in progress. New York is an amazing place for music, mainly because of the musicians themselves - just about every one you meet here is positive and supportive, excited to be alive and making music and asking questions, searching. The community I have found here is amazing, I could not list all the people who have contributed to my music.
I am still living in Brooklyn and am involved in a number of different projects, some of which can be heard here. Thanks for listening!
Peace,
-Ryan
"We don't determine music,
The music determines us;
We only follow it
To the end of our life:
Then it goes on without us."
-Steve Lacy
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