Jazz Times magazine says Alessi has “drop-dead trumpet chops” and calls his music “as clean and airy and sophisticated and disciplined as post-modern progressive jazz gets.” Ralph Alessi was born in San Francisco,CA, the son of classical trumpeter Joe Alessi and opera singer Maria Leone. But after taking degrees in jazz trumpet and bass—he studied under the legendary Charlie Haden at CalArts—he lit out for New York, where he swiftly became an ubiquitous presence on the downtown scene. He’s been a frequent collaborator with such notable musicians as Steve Coleman, Jason Moran, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, Fred Hersch, Uri Caine and Dafnis Prieto. Alessi has recorded nine albums of original compositions which draw on everything from post-bop to neo classical music. Jazz Times named This Against That’s debut outing one of the ten best recordings of 2002 and in 2010, Alessi released “Cognitive Dissonance” which received a 4 star review from Downbeat magazine and was included in The New Republic’s top ten list of records of 2011. In 2013, Ralph will release “Baida”, a quartet CD on ECM records and “Only Many”, a duo recording with pianist Fred Hersch on CAMJazz.
As an educator, Alessi has been a member of the faculty of the Eastman School of Music and 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 New York City and abroad. Since 2002, he has been on the jazz faculty at New York University and this fall will begin teaching at New England Conservatory.
