Ali Ryerson
Ali Ryerson is a jazz flutist whose career spans over four decades, consistently ranking among the top flutists in the Downbeat Jazz Poll. Born in 1952 in New York City, Ali grew up in a musical family. Her father, Art Ryerson, was a renowned jazz guitarist who began with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and later became a top studio musician in NYC, recording with artists from Louis Armstrong to Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley.
Ali Ryerson continued the family tradition, becoming an international touring and recording artist with performances ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Blue Note (NYC and Japan), as well as festival appearances worldwide. She has released numerous albums on major jazz labels, including Concord Records, DMP, Capri, and Bob Thiele’s Red Baron. Ryerson’s groundbreaking Jazz Flute Big Band, developed over the past 14 years, released their debut CD Game Changer in 2013, which remained in the US Jazz Charts Top 10 for six consecutive weeks.
Ali has recorded and performed with jazz greats such as Red Rodney, Roy Haynes, Kenny Barron, Frank Wess, Hubert Laws, Stéphane Grappelli, Mike Mainieri, and Joe Beck, and she made a guest appearance with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. She has also performed with classical artists Julius Baker and Luciano Pavarotti while serving as principal flutist with the Monterey Bay Orchestra.
Ryerson has been musical director of the Hudson River Regional Jazz Festival (2001–2004), NFA Jazz Chair (2005–2010) and currently serves as Low Flutes Chair of the National Flute Association (NFA). She founded the NFA Jazz Flute Big Band. As an educator and author, Ryerson published the acclaimed Jazz Flute Practice Method and released her Jazz Flute Masterclass DVD (LessonFace). She is Professor of Flute at Sacred Heart University and conducts master classes worldwide, including her annual week-long seminar at Hidden Valley Music Seminars in California and an online series via LessonFace in NYC.
As a composer, Ali has published numerous works for flute ensembles, many of which premiered at NFA conventions. She studied flute with Harold Bennett (former principal flute with the Metropolitan Opera) and John Wion (former principal flute with the NYC Opera), and earned a BM in performance from the Hartt School of Music (University of Hartford). Ryerson is a Gemeinhardt Artist with an Autograph Series of flutes and serves as Artist-in-Residence for Gemeinhardt Musical Instruments.
Ali appears as featured artist on the Bert Dalton Brazil Project’s CD Café Colombo, featuring the music of Brazilian composer and pianist Manfredo Fest. Recent guest artist invitations include the Galway Flute Festival in Switzerland, the International Flute Festival of Lima (Peru), the 60th Monterey Jazz Festival, the New York Flute Club, the Florida Flute Convention, the Rochester Flute Fair, the Chicago Flute Fair, and the International Adams Flute Festival. Ali Ryerson is sponsored by Gemeinhardt Flutes.
