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Ralph Peterson
In a varied and prodigious career whose span now encompasses nearly four decades, percussionist-composer Ralph Peterson Jr. has never stopped expanding horizons for the hard-bop idiom he helped revive. Nor has he shirked from intensifying his formidable artistic resources to connect, urgently and emotionally, with the energies of the present day. He released 2 Big Band CD', a live follow up with his cutting-edge quintet Aggregate Prime, recorded an all-star group called The Messenger Legacy, all the past 9-12 months! He takes yet another bold step with his Onyx Productions Music Label.
This year he is releasing a Messenger Legacy following featuring 17 Jazz Messenger Alumni. His list of students constitutes a who's who of today's amazing up and coming drummers like Ari Honig, E.J Strickland, Tyshawn Sorey, Jonathon Blake, Mark Whitfield Jr. Kush Abadey and Justin Faulkner and many more. He also taught non drummers like Sean Jones, Melissa Aldana and The Curtis Brothers.
Ralph Peterson is now at the intersection where his influence on modern jazz is undeniable and constant, both as an artist and educator. He is at the apex of his power as a drummer, bandleader, teacher and mentor. His new release entitled Onward and Upward is his 25th as a leader, 12th on the Onyx Productions Music Label and has been on more than 150 other CD's as a sidemanHe is Full Professor of Percussion at Berklee College of Music. Mr. Peterson also remains in high demand as an educator does workshops and clinics with the support of his endorsers: Drums, Meinl Cymbals, Evans Drumheads Vic Firth Stick and Brushes and Cympad Cymbals Protectors.
Awards
Swing Journal Gold Disc Award -1988 - V -Blue Note 1 of Best 10 Recording of the Decade (Village Voice) - 1989 - TriAngular Blue Note 1 of Best 100 CD's of the 2000's (Down Beat) - 2000 - Back To Stay - Scirroco
Gear
Drums - Mapex Cymbals - Bosphorus Sticks - Vic Firth Drum Heads - Evans Bass Drum Pedals - Axis
Tags
George Colligan: Ultimatum
by C. Andrew Hovan
Unlike classical music, where so much of the performance is based on an authentic interpretation of the material, jazz has always been more about inventiveness and the musician's quest to find an original voice. Additionally, some of the most innovative artists in the genre have been known not only for their instrumental prowess, but also for great bodies of work that have substantially contributed to the jazz annals. Men like Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, and Thad Jones, to name only ...
read moreBrandon Goldberg: In Good Time
by Mike Jurkovic
Pianist Brandon Goldberg may not have the seasoned years behind him yet, (In Good Time finds him brewing with ideas most fifteen-year-olds never tackle) but it is no more a beloved veteran than the late Ralph Peterson who, via a wisely archived voice mail, urges the young man “What's up Brandon, gimme a shout man we hook up later this week!" The drummer and cat supreme then wishes him “Peace" and a split second later the barnstorming, deftly pugilistic “Authority" ...
read moreRalph Peterson & the Messenger Legacy: Onward & Upward
by Paul Rauch
Generally speaking, legacy bands are created to preserve the music of an artist. They feature innovative interpretations of an artist's compositions or past performances to share with future generations of listeners. In the case of drummer Ralph Peterson, his ambitious efforts to honor the continuum of his mentor Art Blakey are forward thinking, about a collective gathering of resources that stress creative thought and individuality. Just as the true legacy of the Jazz Messengers portends, contributors are charged with replenishing ...
read moreRalph Peterson: Listen Up!
by Jack Bowers
As on its debut album, I Remember Bu, drummer / educator Ralph Peterson's Gen-Next Big Band, composed for the most part of students at Boston's Berklee College of Music, pays tribute on Listen Up! to one of Peterson's mentors, the late great Art Blakey, known far and wide as the longtime leader and sparkplug of the peerless Jazz Messengers. And as before, the band powers its way through nine formidable charts, half a dozen written by Messengers alumni and two ...
read moreRalph Peterson: True Messenger, True Warrior
by R.J. DeLuke
Drummer Ralph Peterson has been on the jazz scene for some 35 years or more, carving out a career as a performer and an educator that would be the envy of many. His main influence is the legendary Art Blakey, and Peterson has been a standard bearer for that music and that style for some time. It's not his only thing though. He's played with Walter Davis, {{Jon Faddis, David Murray, Stanley Turrentine, Craig Harris, Henry Threadgill, Michael ...
read moreRalph Peterson & The Messenger Legacy At The Blue LLama
by C. Andrew Hovan
Ralph Peterson & The Messsenger Legacy The Blue LLama Ann Arbor, Michigan May 25, 2019 Driving distance from both jny: Detroit and jny: Lansing, jny: Ann Arbor has always had a healthy music scene which is further bolstered by the presence of the University of Michigan. Live jazz was on the downtown menu for decades thanks to bassist Ron Brooks and his fabled Bird of Paradise club, which operated from 1985 to 2004. When that ...
read moreRalph Peterson & The Messenger Legacy: Legacy Alive, Volume 6 at the Side Door
by Mike Jurkovic
Recorded loud and live at the Side Door Jazz Club in Old Lyme, CT, Ralph Peterson—the last drummer to play side-by-side with the incomparable Art Blakey—delivers an unstoppable two-disc hyperdrive swing-fest celebration of his mentor with Legacy Alive, Volume 6 at the Side Door. It's no deep state secret that Blakey, with his effortless and effusive glee, seamlessly bridged all of jazz's thrilling variants: '40's swing and blues; the nascent bop and hard bop of the '50s to ...
read moreJazz Musician of the Day: Ralph Peterson
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ralph Peterson's birthday today!
For more than 35 years, Ralph Peterson has been one of the distinctive and recognizable drummers in jazz. Besides his incomparable talent behind the drumkit, which has led to collaborations with the likes of Terence Blanchard, Branford Marsalis, David Murray, Roy Hargrove, Michael Brecker, Regina Belle, Betty Carter, Ron Carter, and The Roots in a career that spans almost 35 years- not to mention being hand-picked by Art Blakey as the ...
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Ralph Peterson And Company Remember Art Blakey
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Ralph Peterson & The Messenger Legacy: Legacy Alive (Onyx) We continue our survey of albums, mostly recent, all part of the unceasing Rifftides effort to make you aware of music that the RT staff deems worth hearing. As I write, I glance down occasionally at the four stacks of new releases dropped off over the past couple of weeks by the mailman, FedEx, UPS and, once in a while, delivery services based in exotic places like Sweden, Brazil and Japan. ...
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B.J. Jansen, Ralph Peterson Jr., Delfeayo Marsalis & Duane Eubanks To Make A Record
Source:
Kari-On Productions
BJ Jansen has launched an IndieGoGo Crowdsourcing Campaign for his 10th recording project as a leader with a planned release in the Spring of 2017. The recording will feature all original compositions and arrangements. He will be joined on the recording project by: Delfeayo Marsalis- trombone Ralph Peterson – drums Duane Eubanks – trumpet Zaccai Curtis – piano Dezron Douglas – bass Back This Project Praise for B. J. Jansen “A rising ...
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"The Music Is The Magic," New CD By Vocalist Lainie Cooke, To Be Released March 17 By Ralph Peterson's Onyx Music Label
Source:
Terri Hinte Publicity
Given the deep jazz feeling and serious vocal chops displayed by Lainie Cooke on her new CD The Music Is the Magic, it’s hard to believe that the disc is only Cooke’s third. But this masterpiece of vocal jazz, which will be released March 17 by Ralph Peterson’s Onyx Music Label, affirms her standing in the front ranks of jazz singers performing today. “The wisdom, clarity, and nuances possessed by Lainie throughout the recording are most refreshing,” comments Peterson in ...
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Jazz Drummer Ralph Peterson Performs at Bond Lounge at Boston's Langham Hotel on February 22
Source:
MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts
Jazz Drummer Ralph Peterson at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston on Tuesday, January 24
Source:
MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts
Jazz drummer and composer Ralph Peterson is performing in concert at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. Tickets to the show are $25 and can be ordered online or purchased at the door. You can see a full schedule of upcoming jazz at Scullers, located at the Doubletree Suites by Hilton Hotel, 400 Soldiers Field Road in Boston's Allston neighborhood. For year round details on jazz clubs, concerts, campus events, festivals, radio stations ...
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Ralph Peterson - Outer Reaches (Onxy, 2010)
Source:
Music and More by Tim Niland
New York City may be the epicenter, but Newark, New Jersey was the home town to a number of jazz greats. Wayne Shorter is the most well known, but trumpeter Woody Shaw and organist Larry Young whom are the polestars on this recording were also Newark natives. Drummer Peterson is the leader along with a strong hard-bop band including Pat Bianchi on organ as well Josh Evans on trumpet and Jovan Alexandre on saxophone. They open with a wonderfully swinging ...
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Ralph Peterson Trio Opens the 3rd Season of "Jazz at the Turning Point Cafe" Sat Sept 26
Source:
All About Jazz
Master Drummer Ralph Peterson brings his trio for the opening event of the 3rd season of the critically acclaimed series Jazz at the Turning Point Caf, Piermont, NY.
The trio features Zaccai Curtis, piano and Dezron Douglas, bass. The TPC is just 25 minutes from NYC, NJ, CT, Westchester, Orange. The Concert Jazz series has a new day and time, 2-3 Saturdays/Sundays per month at 6-7:30pm.
The atmosphere, acoustics and prices are great and parking is ...
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Albert Rivera Trio to Feature Master Drummer Ralph Peterson This Weekend in NYC!!
Source:
All About Jazz
Saxophonist Albert Rivera will be joined with drummer Ralph Peterson for two shows at The River Room Of Harlem on December 26th and 27th and show time starts at 7:30 p.m Mr.Peterson was featured early this year on Albert's debut recording “Re-Introduction" (Turnaround Records) along with Christian Scott, Luques Curtis, Zaccai Curtis, Jimmy Greene, Nick Roseboro and Andrew Lipow. Here's what the critics are saying! “Three young artist(Albert Rivera, Luques and Zaccai Curtis) who are part of the next wave ...
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Outer Reaches is Ralph Peterson’s homage to the rich Jazz Organ history he both influenced by and an integral part of. The band does fresh arrangements of the songs from that CD stretching the boundaries of the vocabulary of what most people think Jazz Organ to be. This band re-introduces and showcases Pat Bianchi as a major voice on Organ as well as two more incredible young talents, Josh Evans on Trumpet and Jovan Alexandre on Tenor.
Fives years ago Ralph Peterson met organist Pat Bianchi in Denver Co. At a clinic and gig at UC Boulder. Immediately upon meeting an accord was struck between the two musicians. They have a connection that is sometimes telepathic and this group Unity is the platform to showcase their amazing musical connection.
Brian Andres
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Clemens Grassmann
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Giveton Gelin
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Wilfie Williams
piano
Miguel Tarin Torres
bass
Molly Plaisted
drumsPhotos
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Ralph Peterson
Instrument: Drums
Born: May 20, 1962
Died: March 1, 2021
