Ryan Keberle
Ryan Keberle has been recognized as a top trombonist by multiple critics' polls and praised by The New York Times as a player "of vision and composure." He has developed a unique voice both on his instrument and as a composer, earning distinction among jazz's most adventurous new voices.
Keberle’s outlets include the celebrated indie jazz ensemble, Catharsis; the Big Band Living Legacy Project, carrying on the rich musical language of big band jazz; the All Ears Orchestra, featuring Ryan’s original compositions and arrangements for Jazz Orchestra; Reverso, a chamber-jazz collaboration with German pianist Frank Woeste and French cellist Vincent Courtois; and Collectiv do Brasil, a Brazilian jazz quartet featuring three of the leading musicians from São Paulo reimagining the groundbreaking repertoire of the Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) movement.
Keberle's music integrates his wide-ranging experiences into a highly personal vernacular. Immersed in jazz tradition and drawing on influences from world music, indie rock, and other genres, he seeks fresh and original pathways in his compositions. His latest work as a leader, Bright Moments (Posi-Tone, 2024) finds his compositions reimagined and reorchestrated by a traditional jazz octet.
Keberle has toured internationally as a bandleader for over a decade, engaging audiences at many jazz festivals and premier jazz clubs. Keberle’s music has been featured in NPR’s prestigious Tiny Desk Concert series and on the French TV channel Mezzo.
Keberle has also worked in endlessly varied settings with musicians ranging from superstars to up-and-coming innovators, in jazz, indie rock, R&B and classical music. As a featured soloist with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, he collaborated with David Bowie on his 2015 single “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime).” He has performed extensively with the acclaimed songwriter Sufjan Stevens and with Darcy James Argue’s groundbreaking big band Secret Society. He has also played in the big bands of Pedro Giraudo and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón, with Brazilian superstar Ivan Lins, and with the Saturday Night Live house band. He has accompanied soul hit-makers Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake as well as jazz legends Rufus Reid and Wynton Marsalis.
Born and raised in Spokane, Washington, Keberle was surrounded by music from an early age. His father was a jazz trumpeter and professor at Whitworth University, his mother a piano teacher and longtime church music director. Keberle studied classical violin and piano before adopting trombone as his primary instrument. He moved east in 1999 to study at the Manhattan School of Music, where he came under the tutelage of renowned trombonist Steve Turre, as well as composers Michael Abene and Manny Albam. In May 2003 he was among Juilliard's first graduating Jazz Studies class, learning under trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and big-band leader/arranger David Berger, with whom he has worked ever since.
Since 2004 Keberle has served as the Director of Jazz and Brass Studies at CUNY’s Hunter College in Manhattan and recently began teaching the jazz trombone studio at the Manhattan School of Music.
Ryan Keberle has been recognized as a top trombonist by multiple critics' polls and praised by The New York Times as a player "of vision and composure." He has developed a unique voice both on his instrument and as a composer, earning distinction among jazz's most adventurous new voices.
Keberle’s outlets include the celebrated indie jazz ensemble, Catharsis; the Big Band Living Legacy Project, carrying on the rich musical language of big band jazz; the All Ears Orchestra, featuring Ryan’s original compositions and arrangements for Jazz Orchestra; Reverso, a chamber-jazz collaboration with German pianist Frank Woeste and French cellist Vincent Courtois; and Collectiv do Brasil, a Brazilian jazz quartet featuring three of the leading musicians from São Paulo reimagining the groundbreaking repertoire of the Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) movement.
Keberle's music integrates his wide-ranging experiences into a highly personal vernacular. Immersed in jazz tradition and drawing on influences from world music, indie rock, and other genres, he seeks fresh and original pathways in his compositions. His latest work as a leader, Bright Moments (Posi-Tone, 2024) finds his compositions reimagined and reorchestrated by a traditional jazz octet.
Keberle has toured internationally as a bandleader for over a decade, engaging audiences at many jazz festivals and premier jazz clubs. Keberle’s music has been featured in NPR’s prestigious Tiny Desk Concert series and on the French TV channel Mezzo.
Keberle has also worked in endlessly varied settings with musicians ranging from superstars to up-and-coming innovators, in jazz, indie rock, R&B and classical music. As a featured soloist with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, he collaborated with David Bowie on his 2015 single “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime).” He has performed extensively with the acclaimed songwriter Sufjan Stevens and with Darcy James Argue’s groundbreaking big band Secret Society. He has also played in the big bands of Pedro Giraudo and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón, with Brazilian superstar Ivan Lins, and with the Saturday Night Live house band. He has accompanied soul hit-makers Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake as well as jazz legends Rufus Reid and Wynton Marsalis.
Born and raised in Spokane, Washington, Keberle was surrounded by music from an early age. His father was a jazz trumpeter and professor at Whitworth University, his mother a piano teacher and longtime church music director. Keberle studied classical violin and piano before adopting trombone as his primary instrument. He moved east in 1999 to study at the Manhattan School of Music, where he came under the tutelage of renowned trombonist Steve Turre, as well as composers Michael Abene and Manny Albam. In May 2003 he was among Juilliard's first graduating Jazz Studies class, learning under trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and big-band leader/arranger David Berger, with whom he has worked ever since.
Since 2004 Keberle has served as the Director of Jazz and Brass Studies at CUNY’s Hunter College in Manhattan and recently began teaching the jazz trombone studio at the Manhattan School of Music.