Baida set for an autumn release

Trumpeter Ralph Alessi is one of those artists who enjoy positive word of mouth but seem still somehow tantalisingly out of reach. That’s set to change with news of his signing to ECM and still wider dissemination of his music already reaching a cult international audience. The trumpeter, with Jason Moran, Drew Gress and Nasheet Waits, release Baida, recorded last October, for the Munich label in the autumn, although the exact release date is still to be confirmed. The San Francisco-born son of a trumpet player who turned 50 in the spring traverses both post-bop and avant-jazz territory with some ease, and his work has met acclaim along the way particularly for the album Cognitive Dissonance released by the Italian CAMJazz label. But Alessi has also appeared with something of a ‘who’s who’ of the avant post-bop jazz and improvising scene as a sideman including importantly Steve Coleman and Ravi Coltrane at key points in his own career development. Alessi performing ‘Zone’ is included on the new 6-CD box set anthology Selected Signs III-VIII Music Selected for the Exhibition ECM – A Cultural Archaeology at Haus der Kunst, Munich, and he’s no stranger to the UK scene, having appeared with Ravi Coltrane at the Cheltenham jazz festival in May. He was also a featured player with The Cloudmakers Trio on their album Live at the Pizza Express (Whirlwind) recorded in 2010 in the Soho club and released last September, his existential sound a key factor in the album’s success. 
Ralph Alessi above