Ralphe Armstrong Trio

Cass Tech Alum Ralphe Alan Armstrong got an early start in the
music business. In 1973, Armstrong, a 17-year old east side of
Detroit kid just out of Cass Technical high school, tried out for and
landed a gig with John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra. The
other person who auditioned at the same time was Jaco Pastorius.
“Jaco had a different sound then, he had an old beat up fretted
Fender Precision, I got the job because I played fretless, remembers Ralphe.

Following his three-year Mahavishnu stint, Armstrong joined a
stellar fusion group led by violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, a former
Mahavishnu bandmate who had also appeared on Apocalypse and
Visions of the Emerald Beyond. Ralphe can be heard ripping it up
alongside guitarists Allan Holdsworth and Daryl Stuermer and
drummer Steve Smith on Ponty’s 1977 landmark Enigmatic Ocean
as well as the 1978 follow-up Live, which Ralphe calls the “best
example of my electric bass playing on record.”

In spite of being at the height of his career, Ralphe maintained a low
profile for most of the 1980’s thru the 2000’s to stay home and
raise his two sons and his daughter. “With all the traveling I did, my
children didn’t know me so I stayed home to raise my kids, says
Armstrong. “I think that was very important; if you have children,
they need to know who you are.”

These days, Ralphe is an Executive Board member and chair of the
trust fund with the Detroit Federation of Musicians, Local 5, tours
nationally and internationally, performs at various jazz venues,
including the annual Detroit Jazz Festival, teaches at Cass
Technical High School and University of Michigan, produces, writes
and conducts bass clinics.