Ralph Alessi

A gifted jazz trumpeter with deep roots in the avant-garde and modern creative movements, Ralph Alessi maintains a parallel career as a respected educator while residing in New York City. Critics have singled out his forward-thinking recordings, among them the 2002 quintet project This Against That alongside guitarist David Gilmore and his 2013 ECM debut Baida featuring pianist Jason Moran. Additional partnerships have placed him on numerous acclaimed sessions with keyboardist Uri Caine, clarinetist Don Byron, pianist Fred Hersch, and further colleagues. Beyond performance, Alessi has devoted substantial energy to teaching, including faculty appointments at New England Conservatory, and he established the non-profit School for Improvisational Music. His ongoing ECM relationship has produced further small-group releases such as the 2016 album Quiver, 2018’s Lucent Waters, and 2023’s It’s Always Now.

Born in 1963 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Alessi entered a musical household whose members included his brother, classical trumpeter Joe Alessi, and his mother, opera singer Maria Leone. Classical trumpet instruction began early under his sibling’s guidance. By the mid-’80s he had enrolled at the California Institute for the Arts, studying with bassist Charlie Haden, and soon performed in Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra as well as alongside saxophonist Bill Perkins and pianist Frank Strazzeri. Freelance engagements also arose with chamber groups and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Equipped with a B.F.A. in jazz trumpet performance and an M.F.A. in jazz bass performance, he relocated to New York City in 1990. His first leader date, 1999’s Hissy Fit, documented the Modular Theatre ensemble comprising drummer Shane Endsley, saxophonist Peter Epstein, cellist Hank Roberts, and poet Carl Walker, while separate sessions that period paired him with Uri Caine, Sam Rivers, and Lonnie Plaxico.

Teaching commitments have further defined Alessi’s profile; he has served on the jazz faculty at New York University and as Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Nevada-Reno. He founded and directs the New York-based non-profit School for Improvisational Music and has held positions at the Eastman School of Music and New England Conservatory. The 2002 release This Against That introduced an adventurous quintet that included clarinetist Don Byron, guitarist David Gilmore, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer Nasheet Waits. That same year he recorded the duo album Vice & Virtue with drummer Endsley. In 2007 he assembled the group named for the earlier album, releasing Look with pianist Andy Milne, bassist Gress, drummer Mark Ferber, and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane. The Modular Theatre ensemble reconvened for 2009’s Open Season, and Alessi maintained steady work with Caine on the keyboardist’s classical-themed Winter & Winter projects, among them 2000’s The Goldberg Variations, 2003’s Gustav Mahler: Dark Flame, and 2006’s Uri Caine Plays Mozart.

Cognitive Dissonance appeared in 2010 and reunited Alessi with pianist Jason Moran. The following year the This Against That ensemble returned for Wiry Strong. A 2013 duo recording, Only Many, paired him with pianist Fred Hersch. Also in 2013 came his ECM debut Baida, again employing the rhythm section of Moran, Gress, and Waits. In 2015 he co-led the Babel date Sugar Blade with trombonist Steve Davis. His second ECM leader album, Quiver, arrived in 2016 and featured pianist Gary Versace with Waits and Gress. The 2018 ECM release Lucent Waters appeared under pianist Florian Weber and included bassist Linda May Han Oh alongside Waits. Alessi’s third ECM effort as leader, 2019’s Imaginary Friends, once more showcased the This Against That group. That same year he issued the trio album Appleblueseagreen with saxophonist Mark Turner and pianist Alex Koo. In 2023 he returned to ECM with his quartet for It’s Always Now.