Ralph Alessi

Ralph Peter Alessi (born March 6, 1963) is a jazz trumpeter and composer who has worked with saxophonist Steve Coleman. He has also performed with Uri Caine, Ravi Coltrane, Fred Hersch and Don Byron.

Alessi is also the founder and director of the School for Improvisational Music and is on faculty at University of Nevada-Reno. His older brother Joseph Alessi is a classical trombonist.

• Hissy Fit (1999, Love Slave)
• This Against That (2002, RKM)
• Vice & Virtue (2002, RKM)
• Look (2007, Between the Lines)
• Open Season (2009, RKM)
• Cognitive Dissonance (2010, CAM Jazz)
• Wiry Strong (2011, Clean Feed)
• Only Many (2013, CAM Jazz)
• Baida (2013, ECM)
• Quiver (2016, ECM)
• Imaginary Friends (2018, ECM)

As sideman

With David Ake

• Bridges (Posi-Tone, 2013)
• Humanities (Posi-Tone, 2018)

With Don Byron

• You are #6 (Blue Note, 2001)
• Ivey Divey (Blue Note, 2006)

With Michael Cain

• Circa (ECM, 1996)

With Uri Caine

• The Sidewalks of New York: Tin Pan Alley (Winter & Winter, 1999)
• Gustav Mahler in Toblach (Winter & Winter, 1999)
• The Goldberg Variations (Winter & Winter, 2000)
• Gustav Mahler: Dark Flame (Winter & Winter, 2003)
• Shelf-Life (Winter & Winter, 2005)
• Uri Caine Ensemble Plays Mozart (Winter & Winter, 2006)
• The Othello Syndrome (Winter & Winter, 2009)
• Rhapsody in Blue (Winter & Winter, 2013)

With James Carney

• Fables from the Aqueduct (1994, Jacaranda)
• Offset Rhapsody (1997, Jacaranda)

With Steve Coleman

• A Tale of 3 Cities (Novus/BMG, 1994)
• Myths, Modes, and Means (Novus/BMG, 1995)
• The Way of the Cipher (Novus/BMG, 1995)
• The Sign and the Seal (BMG, 1996)
• Genesis (BMG, 1997)
• The Sonic Language of Myth (BMG, 1999)
• Lucidarium(Label Bleu, 2003)

With Ravi Coltrane

• Moving Pictures (RCA, 1998)
• From the Round Box (RCA, 2000)
• Spirit Fiction (Blue Note, 2012)

With Scott Colley

• Architect of the Silent Moment (CAM Jazz, 2005 [2007])
• Empire (CAM Jazz, 2010)

With David Gilmore

• Ritualism (2000, Kashka)

With Drew Gress

• 7 Black Butterflies (Premonition, Koch, 2005)
• The Irrational Numbers (Premonition, 2007)
• The Sky Inside (Pirouet, 2013)

With Fred Hersch

• Leaves of Grass (2005, Palmetto)
• Live from the Jazz Standard/ Fred Hersch Pocket Orchestra (2009, Palmetto)
• Trio plus 2 (Palmetto)
• Songs Without Words (2009, Nonesuch)

With Jason Moran

• Artist in Residence (Blue Note, 2006)

With Enrico Pieranunzi

• Proximity (2015, CamJazz)

With Lonnie Plaxico

• With All My Heart (1994, Muse)
• Emergence (2000, Savoy)

With Sam Rivers

• Culmination (1998, RCA)
• Inspiration (1999, RCA)

With Others

• Polarities - Peter Epstein (2014)
• Lucent Waters - Florian Weber (2018, ECM)
• Better than Silver and Gold - Yelena Eckemoff (2018)