June 18, 2001

photo David Fischer

Ali RYERSON Flute U.S.A.

Her life was set to music from the start by her father, Artie Ryerson, a first-rate and widely sought-after guitarist of the Big Band era and studio scene of the '50s and '60s.
Her three brothers, Art, Rich, and John are also musicians and in fact provided Ali with her first professional opportunity, performing in Rich and Art's jazz-rock band while in her teens.
In most cases, being taught by an elder sibling often means learning through the school of hard knocks. In the Ryerson family, however, it was strictly a case of positive encouragement.
Reflects Ali, "I'd just go on with the guys and Rich would say 'play whenever you feel comfortable.'"
With her father holding frequent jam sessions at home, Ali was exposed to some of New York's finest - Milt Hinton, Barry Galbraith and Lou Stein to name just a few. Said her brother Rich, "The advantage she had growing up is that a lot of people learn jazz by playing along with records. She got to absorb it right there.

The rich exposure and early training in playing and improvising with other musicians proved invaluable. "The essential element in jazz is using your ears, playing by ear," says Ryerson. "When you don't know all the tunes, you really have to listen. You're put in the middle with other musicians and you learn to play - it's the way you develop the true jazz feeling."

Continuing her musical education, Ryerson enrolled at the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut where she studied classical performance and graduated cum laude with a bechlor of music degree in 1979. Further musical partnership included her studying under the mentorship of harold Bennett of the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. John Wion of the New York City Opera Orchestra and Julius Baker of the New York Philharmonic. To these, add her participation in few jazz seminars like:

• the Armand hammer International College, New Mexico
• Seton College, New York,
  
• Hidden valley Music Seminars, California.

All of this fortunate and prestigious training is wonderfully evident in her warm, full-bodied tone that emanates from a flawless and spirited technique. But perhaps her most accomplished attribute as a jazz flutist is her uncanny ability to swing, a characteristic incorrectly assumed to be outside the scope of the instrument. She simply disproves the myth with a tasteful juxtaposition of spacing and note-bending ability, all of which help to create a rich rhythmic weave that sets off and highlights a variety of sound texture. From gently lucid to boldly percussive, her playing embodies the spirit and stylings of past greats, such as Miles davis and Bill Evans, two of her early influences.

extremely active through the '80s and '90s, recording seven jazz albums with such luminaries as Kenny Barron, Red Rodney, Cecil McBee, and Roy Haynes while continuously performing both at home and abroad in concerts and festivals. It is a tribute to her versatility as a musician and her value as an artist that she has been able to perform with such diverse talent as Laurindo Almeida, Art Farmer, Maxine Sullivan, and Luciano Pavarotti (as principal flutist with the Monterey bay Symphony).

In 1980, she moved to Montreal to get more experience playing in clubs. Drawn back to New York in 1981, she played in leading jazz clubs, among them Sweet Basil and Bradley's.
Bradely Cunningham, fanatically devoted to piano and bass jazz duos, gave Ali the chance to play every Sunday night, because she was so good that she could delight the club's regular audience of very demanding jazz affictionados.

In search of even more opportunities to enhance her career, Ali spent the '80s traveling back and forth between Europe and the United States, establishing her homebase in Belgium. Ali has become a regular on the Belgian jazz scene and continues to maintain close relations.
Her involvement has resulted in numerus recordings with some of the most gifted musicians of Belgium, like Steve Houben (saxophone), and an ongoing partnership with pianist and composer Charles Loos.

Ali Ryerson has played in numerous festivals, such as:

Carnegie Hall, Centenial Celebration (with Stéphane Grapelli) JVC Jazz Festival, New York City Monterey Jazz Festival, California Belga Jazz Festival, Belgium Guiness Jazz festival, Ireland Edinburgh Festival, Scotland	Nevers festival, France Festival Williamsburg, Virginia National Flute Convention, New York City Bilbao Festival, Spain Guimaraes Jazz '94, Portugal
She also has orchestral experience:
Monterey Bay Symphony, principal flute ('91-'92 season) Luciano Pavarotti concert with Monterey Bay Symphony Hartford Symphony

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TWO SUCCESSFUL SOLO CAREERS ARE A NATURAL BLEND (New York Times, May 7, 2000)
In late 1996, Ali encountered guitarist Joe BECK. They formed a duo, named ALTO (due to the special guitar Joe invented for this formation) and have been touring extensively (a.o. a full month at the Blue Note in Japan) and recorded two albums.

	1981-86	commercial studio work, NYC
	1985	ALI RYERSON QUINTET, London (with Roy Williams & The Mick Pyne Trio
	1988	JAZZ ENTRE AMIGOS (Madrid T.V)
	1988	CHARLES LOOS/ALI RYERSON (European Music Distr.)
	1991	VAGABONDAGES (IGLOO) with Charles Loos and Steve Houben
	1992	ALI RYERSON, BLUE FLUTE (RED BARON) with Red Rodney, Kenny Barron, Santi Debriano, Roy Haynes
	1993	NO WALL, NO WAR (B SHARP) a jazz ballet with Charles Loos and John Ruocco
	1993	ALI RYERSON, "I'LL BE BACK" (RED BARON) with Kenny Barron, Cecil McBee, Danny Gottlieb
	1995	ALI RYERSON, "PORTRAITS IN SILVER" (CONCORD) with Kenny Warner, Dennis Irwin, Danny Gottlieb
	1996	ALI RYERSON, "IN HER OWN SWEET WAY" (CONCORD) with Harold Danko, Jeff Fuller, Terry Clarke
	1997	ALI RYERSON, "BRASIL: QUIET DEVOTION" (CONCORD) with Joe Beck, Jeff Fuller...
	2001	ALTO, "DJANGO" (DSD) with Joe Beck

Contact : alialto@aol.com

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