Ryan Truesdell

A world-renowned, GRAMMY® Award-winning producer, composer, arranger, and educator, Ryan Truesdell was voted “Best New Artist” in the 2012 JazzTimes Critic’s Poll and is best known for his award-winning Gil Evans Project, a large ensemble devoted to the performance and preservation of the music of the famed arranger and Miles Davis collaborator, Gil Evans. This extensive project to unearth and bring to light some of the lesser-known music of Evans’ has resulted in two critically acclaimed albums: CENTENNIAL: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans (ArtistShare, 2012) which debuted ten never-before-recorded works of Evans’ in honor of his 100th birthday, and LINES OF COLOR: Live at Jazz Standard (Blue Note/ArtistShare, 2015), recorded live during the band’s annual residency at Jazz Standard in New York City. Both albums were unanimously praised by the critics, receiving a total of four GRAMMY® nominations and a posthumous GRAMMY® Award for “Best Instrumental Arrangement” for Evans, in addition to two Jazz Journalist Association Jazz Awards for ‘Record of the Year’ and ‘Large Ensemble of the Year,’ UK JazzFM Awards Nomination for ‘Album of the Year’ and the "Les Coups De Coeur" from France's Académie Charles Cros.

Truesdell’s current project, Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions (2024), which the Wall Street Journal calls “ingenious,” pairs 15 of today’s leading large ensemble jazz composers with the timeless and venerable instrumentation of the string quartet, culminating in a revolutionary collection of nearly 3 hours of genre-breaking new music commissioned by Truesdell specifically for this project. The experience and influence of the composers Truesdell assembled span several decades and includes Joseph Borsellino III, John Clayton, Alan Ferber, Miho Hazama, John Hollenbeck, Christine Jensen, Asuka Kakitani, Oded Lev-Ari, Jim McNeely, Vanessa Perica, Rufus Reid, Dave Rivello, Nathan Parker Smith, and Truesdell himself, as well as a never-before-recorded composition by Bob Brookmeyer.

In the studio, Truesdell has proven himself an invaluable resource, notably producing Maria Schneider Orchestra’s albums Concert in the Garden (2004), Sky Blue (2008), The Thompson Fields (2015) and Data Lords (2020), which have received a total of eight GRAMMY® nominations and won two GRAMMY® Awards for “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album,” with Data Lords also becoming a 2021 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music. He served as producer for Owen Broder’s The American Roots Project, Nick Finzer’s Hear & Now and JJ Johnson Centennial Project, Cowboys & Frenchmen, as well as radio broadcasts for the NDR Big Band in Hamburg, Germany with Truesdell’s former teacher, legendary composer and valve-trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Truesdell has served as the manager of Brookmeyer’s musical estate since his passing in 2011.

A sought-after composer/arranger, Truesdell has been commissioned by Ingrid Jensen with U.S.A.F. Band of the Pacific, Frank Kimbrough with University of Minnesota’s jazz ensemble, Owen Broder’s American Roots Project, and composed a new work for Bob Brookmeyer’s 80th birthday celebration at the Eastman School of Music. Truesdell recently contributed two arrangements of dear friend and Gil Evans Project pianist Frank Kimbrough’s compositions for the memorial album, KIMBROUGH, alongside 67 of Frank’s former bandmates, students, and friends, which all proceeds benefit the Frank Kimbrough Jazz Scholarship at The Juilliard School.

As a clinician and guest artist, Truesdell has worked with national and international universities including the University of North Texas, Elmhurst College, New York University, CODARTS University of the Arts, and the Royal Conservatorie of Antwerp. Between 2010-2013, he embarked on a multi-concert residency at the Eastman School of Music culminating in performances at Kilbourn Hall (Rochester, NY), St. Peter’s Church (NYC), Rochester International Jazz Festival, and a six-concert series at the Umbria Jazz Festival (Perugia, Italy) performing nearly 150 of Gil Evans’ historic works.

As a guest conductor he has worked with leading professional ensembles such as WDR Big Band (Köln, Germany), Brussels Jazz Orchestra (Brussels, Belgium), and RTV Slovenia Big Band (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and performed as a guest and with his own ensemble at famed venues and festivals including Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory Toronto, North Sea Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Jazz Standard, and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Truesdell currently serves on the board of directors of the International Society of Jazz Arrangers & Composers and has held faculty positions at NYU and The New School in New York City.

Awards

GRAMMY® Award Winner                                                                                                                

• Best Large Jazz Ensemble (Producer, Data Lords – Maria Schneider Orchestra)
• Best Large Jazz Ensemble (Producer, The Thompson Fields – Maria Schneider Orchestra)

GRAMMY® Award Nominations                                                                                                                 

• Best Large Jazz Ensemble (Producer/Director, Lines of Color: Gil Evans Project Live at Jazz Standard)  
• Best Large Jazz Ensemble (Producer/Director, Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans)  
• Best Large Jazz Ensemble (Producer, Sky Blue – Maria Schneider Orchestra)

Critic Polls

• DownBeat 62nd Annual Critics Poll – Rising Star Big Band (Gil Evans Project) 
• DownBeat 62nd Annual Critics Poll – Rising Star Arranger (Ryan Truesdell) 
• JazzTimes Critics Poll – Best New Artist (Ryan Truesdell) 

Jazz Journalist Awards                                                                                                                  

• Record of the Year (Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans)
• Large Ensemble of the Year (Gil Evans Project)

UK JazzFM Awards Nomination                                                                                                     

• Album of the Year (Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans)