Ralph Alessi

Ralph Alessi, Gary Versace, Drew Gress, Nasheet Waits – Quiver (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 15, 2023 · Comments off

Trumpeter Ralph Alessi’s ECM leader debut – 2013’s Baida – was the album where “everything came together for him,” according to Nate Chinen in a JazzTimes profile. “Without abandoning his yen for oppositional energies, it’s a beautifully coherent statement, not just his most accomplished album but a contender for one of the year’s best.” Baida indeed went on to become the most lauded release of Alessi’s career, with The New York Times praising the music for its balance of “elegant precision and power.” With Quiver, Alessi teams with pianist Gary Versace and the trumpeter’s longtime rhythm section of choice – bassist Drew Gress and drummer Nasheet Waits – to create a follow-up of quicksilver melodicism and subtly energized rhythm; there is a lyricism to Alessi’s playing that channels such forebears as Miles Davis and Kenny Wheeler, the mood reflective, even pensive. As DownBeat says, “Alessi works between the notes, his thoughtful, conversational solos as meditative as a calligrapher’s art, each line free-flowing and declarative but with immaculate shape and beauty.”

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Ralph Alessi – Imaginary Friends (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 15, 2023 · Comments off

Ralph Alessi’s ‘imaginary friends’ are very much real. They’re called Ravi Coltrane, Andy Milne, Drew Gress and Mark Ferber. And the world that they create together is drenched with pastel shades. The musical colours that this quintet paints on Imaginary Friends blend into each other perfectly, spreading out over the huge melodic canvas. On closer inspection, the details of these nine pieces are dense and complex, yet Ralph Alessi makes the whole thing ever so fluid…

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Ralph Alessi – It’s Always Now (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · April 15, 2023 · Comments off

Trumpeter Ralph Alessi’s masterful technique and artfully burnished tone are on full display on It’s Always Now, where he is joined by pianist Florian Weber, bassist Bänz Oester, and drummer Gerry Hemingway. The players consistently impress with their moment-to-moment invention and nuanced interpretations. Alessi’s writing incorporates both free jazz and modern composition, and his playing taps into extended technique as well as the traditional resources of his instrument.

“Hypnagogic” is the first of five duo improvisations by Alessi and Weber, who are frequent collaborators. Early in the track, trumpet tones ping and echo like sonar pulses as rippling piano ascends. Throughout, Alessi works wonders with a constrained approach, varying his attack to create a variety of subtle effects. The piece makes for a mysterious, open-ended introduction to an excellent album.

“Diagonal Lady,” a ballad suffused with noir romanticism, starts off with a moody bass introduction by Oester that evokes the late Charlie Haden. Alessi’s solo might be his most straight-ahead statement on It’s Always Now; it’s also gorgeous. After providing exquisitely spare piano accompaniment, Weber steps forward to roll out a beguiling set of supple lines. Hemingway’s brushwork keeps the music moving, even as he adds nice colors.

At the beginning of “His Hopes, His Fears, His Tears,” Alessi breathily sketches out a melody before being joined by Hemingway’s artfully stray hits and Weber’s agitated fingerings. Soon the instrumental threads all start to coalesce. Then the music moves into free jazz territory where the band creates some of the album’s fiercest sounds.

The last track, another trumpet and piano duet, is the aptly titled “Tumbleweed.” Horn and keyboard lines deftly unfold, and as the mood darkens, there is a sense of moving through a transfixing landscape, one that lingers after the final notes have fallen away. – Fred Cisterna

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Christoph Grab, Ralph Alessi, Florian Favre, Lukas Traxel, Pius Baschnagel – Blossom (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 7, 2023 · Comments off

After the great success with REFLECTIONS (2017-2021 countless concerts, two albums, internationally very good reviews and the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” for the second album “Live at Haberhaus”), BLOSSOM is the trio Grab/Traxel/Baschnagel’s latest coup. This time the trio is joined by the Bern-based American Ralph Alessi on trumpet and Fribourg’s Florian Favre on piano.

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Stéphane Kerecki featuring Marc Copland, Ralph Alessi, Tore Brunborg, Fabrice Moreau – Out of the Silence (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 14, 2022 · Comments off

Stéphane Kerecki featuring Marc Copland, Ralph Alessi, Tore Brunborg, Fabrice Moreau – Out of the Silence (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:05:20 minutes | 722 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Outnote Records

Stéphane Kerecki returned to composition after his two albums Nouvelle Vagueand French Touchand now presents an album of his most recent works. This new project features a dream ensemble: Marc Copland, has been one of the most important pianists on the New York scene for some forty years; the Norwegian saxophonist Tore Brunborg (Manu Katché, Nils Petter Molvær) captivates the ear with his extraordinary sound and lyricism; trumpeter Ralph Alessi (Ravi Coltrane, Fred Hersh) is, according to his peers, one of the most brilliant trumpeters on the international scene; drummer Fabrice Moreau (Airelle Besson, Trio Viret), Kerecki’s partner on his last two albums, has worked closely with him for many years. Kerecki’s own sensitivity comes fully into play with such a line-up and allows abundant room for interaction with such star players. His melody-based numbers include subtle references to the lyrical jazz of the 1970s that marked his early years.

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Ralph Alessi – Baida (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · December 18, 2016 · Comments off

Baida is Ralph Alessi’s ECM debut as a bandleader. Renowned as a musician’s musician, the trumpeter has assembled a powerhouse lineup of pianist Jason Moran, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Nasheet Waits.

What Mr. Alessi prizes in music is not the impeccable but the ineffable: the thrill of seeking but not knowing.

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Ralph Alessi – Baida (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 1, 2016 · Comments off

Trumpeter Ralph Alessi makes his ECM debut as a bandleader with Baida, an album of atmospheric depth and melodic allure. To bring his compositions to life, Alessi assembled a powerhouse New York group consisting of pianist Jason Moran, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Nasheet Waits; the sessions were produced by multiple Grammy nominee and winner Manfred Eicher. As a vessel for the music’s seemingly bottomless lyricism, Alessi’s quartet plays with extraordinary finesse; however there is also a tensile strength emanating from the performances. (more…)