Ali Ryerson

About Ali

With a career spanning nearly five decades, jazz flutist Ali Ryerson has consistently ranked among the top flutists in the Downbeat Jazz Poll for well over a decade. Born in 1952 in New York City, Ali grew up in a musical family. Her father, Art Ryerson, was a renowned jazz guitarist who got his start with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, and later became a top studio player in NYC, recording with everyone from Louis Armstrong, Erroll Garner, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan, to Frank Sinatra. Ali Ryerson has carried on the family tradition, becoming an international touring/recording artist, with performances ranging from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to the Blue Note (NYC and Japan), plus festival appearances worldwide. Ryerson has released over two dozen albums on major jazz labels, including Concord Records, DMP, Capri, and legendary jazz producer Bob Thiele's final jazz label, Red Baron. When Ryerson's groundbreaking Jazz Flute Big Band released their debut CD, "Game Changer" on Capri Records, the album hit the TOP 10 on the U.S. Jazz Charts for six straight weeks. Ali has recorded and/or performed with jazz greats such as Red Rodney, Roy Haynes, Kenny Barron, Frank Wess, Hubert Laws, Stephane Grappelli, Harold Danko, Art Farmer, Mike Mainieri, Joe Beck, and Gene Bertoncini, as well as 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 (when she was principal flutist with the Monterey Bay Orchestra), and harpsichordist Anthony Newman. Ali was musical director of the Hudson River Regional Jazz Festival (2001-04), Jazz Chair and Low Flutes Chair for the National Flute Association, and founder of the NFA Jazz Flute Big Band. As an educator and author, Ryerson published the widely acclaimed Jazz Flute Practice Method, and conducts master classes worldwide. Ali has an online jazz flute masterclass series, presented by Lessonface in NYC, and a Jazz Flute Masterclass DVD, also produced by Lessonface. As a composer, Ryerson's flute works have been performed internationally. In 2020, the Theodore Presser Co. invites Ms. Ryerson to join their catalogue of composers, with the publication of several new works. And in Europe, Edition Kossack is also adding Ryerson to their catalogue in 2020, beginning with her new book of jazz flute duets. Ryerson's most recent invitations as guest artist include the Galway Flute Festival in Switzerland, Rochester Jazz Festival, International Flute Festival of Lima, Peru, 60th Monterey Jazz Festival, New York Flute Club, the International Low Flute Festival, International Flute Festival in the Netherlands, NYU, Univ. of Michigan, Univ. of Wisconsin, Ohio University, Florida and MidAtlantic Flute conventions, the Chicago Flute Fair, the 2019 Japan Flute Convention and the 2020 International Low Flute Festival in Japan, La C̫te Suisse Festival 2020, Master Teacher Workshop for Flute at Interlochen Center for the Arts. Ali studied with Harold Bennett and John Wion, and is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music. Ms. Ryerson is a Gemeinhardt Artist with an Autograph Series of flutes by Gemeinhardt Musical Instruments. www.aliryerson.com