Draft:Ricky Alexander

Ricky Alexander (born 1989) is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist based in New York City.

Early life and Education
Alexander grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Jazz from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Master's Degree in Jazz Performance from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He was initially encouraged toward an interest in jazz by his grandmother.

Career
Since coming to New York, Alexander has worked as a sideman to artists including Terry Waldo, Glenn Crytzer, Sweet Megg, Dandy Wellington, Danny Jonokuchi, and Mike Davis. He has also played in big bands including Vince Giordano's Nighthawks Orchestra. In addition to leading the Early Bird Jazz Band, Alexander plays and releases music under his own name on Turtle Bay Records. There, with Sweet Megg, he also co-hosts "On The Back Porch," a web series that interviews and showcases trad jazz musicians working today.

Musical Style
Alexander's style "skillfully revive[s] the busy sound of jazz in the 1930s, a style that emanated from speakeasies in Chicago and Kansas City and wound up in New York." His playing "hint[s] at predecessors like Ted Lewis and Benny Goodman, but only intermittently; as lead soloist he seeks to maintain, it seems, the lighthearted zeitgeist of each tune, whatever its era of origin." In general, Ricky plays trad jazz and standards faithfully, but with modern influences.

Discography

 * Strike Up The Band (2019)
 * I'm In Love Again (2021) with Sweet Megg
 * Just Found Joy, to be released in 2024

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