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Edward Ratliff

Edward Ratliff is a New York City-based composer, bandleader and multi-instrumentalist (trumpet, cornet, trombone, euphonium and accordion). He has been called "a wonderfully spunky and imperturbable trumpet player" (The New York Times) and "a fine musician who possesses a clever and crafty compositional pen" (AllAboutJazz.com).

The music he makes is inspired by a wide range of sources, including kung fu movies, jazz, boleros, cha cha and tango, the golden age of Hollywood, 18th-century Bohemian wind music, ambient grooves, Vietnamese pop music and free improvisation.

He has received numerous commissions and grants for dance and theater scores, including a commission from the American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program and several Meet the Composer Fund grants. He was an associate artist-in-residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, working for three weeks with composer and saxophonist Henry Threadgill, and received an Honorable Mention in the Jazz Composers Alliance/Julius Hemphill Composition Awards. Originally from Texas, he lives in New York City where he studied music at the Mannes College of Music and film at the New School.

Ratliff and his bands have appeared at international festivals including the JVC Jazz Festival New York, MODAFE (Seoul, Korea), Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival (New York), ImPulsTanz (Vienna), SommerSzene Salzburg (Austria), the Improvisation Festival/NY, Knitting Factory "What is Jazz?" Festival, and at theaters, clubs and other venues throughout New York City, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Whitney Museum, Dance Theater Workshop, Barbès, Performance Space 122 and Dancing in the Street's "Dances at Wave Hill." His music has also been heard in a wide variety of television programs presented on HBO, Nickelodeon, the Discovery Channel, ABC Family, MTV, VH1 and more--everything from a biography of Dostoyevsky to Real Sex Xtra.

His music is represented on several CDs: A new CD, Those Moments Before, a disc of cinematic small-ensemble music, was released in the fall of 2009 ("Whether it's a tribute to Hong Kong Action films or the sound of Johnny Hodges, "Those Moments Before" is a very satisfying and entertaining show..." AllAboutJazz.com). The Guardian (London) called his film score for Barcelona in 48 Hours "an intriguing tone poem that repays repeated listening." His debut recording, Wong Fei-Hong Meets Little Strudel, a tribute to the Hong Kong film industry, was called "a great disc" by Cadence magazine. His music can also be heard on a Knitting Factory Works disc, "Peep; The Joy of Being" ("skewed instrumental magic" CMJ). His recordings are available at the strudelmedia store and Amazon.com.

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201
Album Review

Edward Ratliff: Those Moments Before

Read "Those Moments Before" reviewed by Troy Collins


The cover of Those Moments Before features a poster of Marlene Dietrich advertising Josef von Sternberg's 1931 film Dishonored. While this album--New York-based multi-instrumentalist Edward Ratliff's third as a leader--isn't a soundtrack like the earlier Barcelona in 48 Hours (Strudelmedia, 2004) was, this date unfolds with the same degree of wild eclecticism and globe-trotting impetuousness as a proverbial soundtrack album.

Joined by a stellar cast of Downtown improvisers, Ratliff has an unlimited palette of sound at his disposal. ...

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Album Review

Edward Ratliff: Those Moments Before

Read "Those Moments Before" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Multi-instrumentalist Edward Ratliff brings a wide tapestry of sounds to Those Moments Before. His inspiration comes from Henry Threadgill, a funeral march, the tango, and Hong Kong movies, and he has assembled a stellar cast of musicians to help realize his ambitious canvas. The portrait he presents is a dynamic, moving one.

Ratliff is comfortable in several zones and his music proves the point with instrumental virtuosity that underscores his artistry. One of the more intriguing tracks, “Kowloon ...

155
Album Review

Edward Ratliff: Barcelona in 48 Hours

Read "Barcelona in 48 Hours" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Rhapsodalia and Five Agents are comparable yet unique quintets led by instrumental wizard Edward Ratliff. His work on cornet, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, accordion, celeste, and even Fender Rhodes makes you want to tap your foot, be social, and clank wine glasses (better yet beer pints). Early last month, Five Agents graced Barbès (one of Brooklyn's better informal spaces to hear jazz and improvisation) as part of the weekly “Night of the Ravished Limbs series curated by baritone/alto saxophonist Michael Attias ...

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Album Review

Edward Ratliff: Barcelona in 48 Hours

Read "Barcelona in 48 Hours" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Barcelona in 48 Hours has been a multimedia celebration of film, dance, photography, and music in its various incarnations over the past couple of years, and one of the pieces of fallout is this soundtrack CD from the short film of the same name. The film, produced and directed by Anja Hitzenberger and Edward Ratliff, consists almost entirely of black-and-white still photographs shot in a two-day span in the Spanish city; it's about improvising dancer David Zambrano. The stage show ...

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Album Review

Edward Ratliff: Barcelona in 48 Hours

Read "Barcelona in 48 Hours" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Music written for a film does not always stand up on its own. This is one of the exceptions, an enticing body of work that accompanied the short of the same name; a film about movement that was comprised almost entirely of black and white photographs.

Ratliff composed or co-composed all the tunes. He uses classical music, North African rhythms, what is termed as “jungle music" and given credence to on the programmed grooves of “Mies," and that ...

108
Album Review

Edward Ratliff: Barcelona In 48 Hours

Read "Barcelona In 48 Hours" reviewed by Jim Santella


As the soundtrack to a short film of the same name, Barcelona In 48 Hours travels through myriad textures and themes. Like Miles Davis, trumpeter Edward Ratliff brings out different views from beneath the jazz umbrella, from muted cornet in a traditional Spanish sweep to hip-hop rhythms in a contemporary language.

Several arrangements of “Barcelona" wander pointedly among tango and flamenco. Folk timbres from violin and accordion bring the tradition alive. Michaël Attias adds baritone saxophone high jinks ...

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Album Review

Edward Ratliff: Barcelona in 48 Hours

Read "Barcelona in 48 Hours" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Multi-instrumentalist Edward Ratliff's self-professed influences include kung fu movies, 18th century Bohemian wind music, jazz, the Golden Age of Hollywood, tangos, boleros, Vietnamese pop songs and free improvisation--a short list. A litany like that might make you tag him as something of a clever crackpot; but a talented crackpot, if you've encountered his previous disc, Wong-Fei Hong Meets Little Strudel. At least that was my take on him, on that specific outing, after listening to a set that attempted to ...

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"...[Barcelona in 48 Hours] is an intriguing tone poem that repays repeated listening... Ratliff's method of theme and reiterations (rather than variations) recalls Gato Barbieri's soundtrack for Last Tango in Paris." --John Walters, The Guardian

"...composer-brassmeister-accordionist Ratliff has fashioned a little quintet that sustains its tenderness and agility while still blowing like Vesuvius. Factor in the gypsy strain that arrives via the Far East and you've got singularity, too." --Jim Macnie, Village Voice

"...fetching, globe-trotting, and insatiably romantic, [Barcelona in 48 Hours] entrances within seconds, begs you to get involved, and ages with grace... The mixture of styles and instruments is unconventional to say the least, and Ratliff's compositions have a persistently magnetic quality." --Nils Jacobson, All About Jazz

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