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Ralph Alessi & Baida Quartet | Piedmont Piano Company present

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 02/28/2016
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Location
Piedmont Piano Company

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$20 | Reserve tickets with your credit card, please call (510) 547-8188

The Ralph Alessi Baida Quartet, led by San Francisco-born trumpeter-composer Ralph Alessi is an incredibly dynamic ensemble described by The New York Times as “unstoppably inventive.” The Baida Quartet will be releasing their second record on ECM called Quiver in February 2016, coinciding with an appearance at the Village Vanguard.

Ralph Alessi and Baida Quartet

  • Ralph Alessi — trumpet
  • David Virelles — piano
  • Drew Gress — bass
  • Gerald Cleaver — drums

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 a 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. He currently records for the ECM record label.

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, a non-profit entity currently holding improvisational music workshops in New York City and abroad. Currently, he is on the jazz faculty at New York University and New England Conservatory.

The Ralph Alessi Baida Quartet is a band led by San Francisco- born trumpeter/composer Ralph Alessi. An incredibly dynamic ensemble described by The New York Times as “unstoppably inventive,” the band released Baida on the ECM Record Label in 2013. The Baida Quartet was first heard as a unit on Alessi’s 2002 CD This Against That, an album that made JazzTimes magazine’s Top 10 for the year and then on the 2010 record Cognitive Dissonance which was called “superb” by the Chicago Reader. Alessi cut his teeth in the classical realm, learning from his classical musician father and performing with the San Francisco Symphony. Now a celebrated performer, composer and bandleader on the New York jazz scene, he has led 9 albums and performed extensively with Ravi Coltrane, Uri Caine, Don Byron and Steve Coleman. The Baida Quartet will be releasing Quiver, their 2nd release on ECM records in February of 2016.

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