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Brittany Anjou

Brittany Anjou is an American composer, vocalist, and piano focused multi-instrumentalist based in New York City. Exploring everything from Ahmad Jamal to Bikini Kill in her repertoire, this creative, versatile, and virtuoso performer hails from Seattle. Starting from the age of twelve Brittany has performed in award winning jazz ensembles throughout the U.S.A. and Europe. She has had the opportunity to perform with people such as Wynton Marsalis, Ernestine Anderson, Clark Terry, and Elysian Fields. As a young woman she continued jazz and philosophy studies at New York University under the mentorship of Stefon Harris. Since, Anjou has directed and composed for many of her own instrumental ensembles, including the Brittany Anjou Trio, the LARCENY Chamber Orchestra, Bi TYRANT, Ghanaian Gyil Gala with Alfred Kpebsaane, and BEWAA, a series of ensembles incorporating Ghanaian xylophone. Recently she was a key support musician in the revival of 1960s all-girl outsider music band, The Shaggs, and supported Dot Wiggin in the studio and live while recording her 2013 solo album. Brittany performs actively with many artists and musicians throughout New York City and has toured throughout the US, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Anjou is currently working on releasing three albums: a 1960's style jazz piano trio album of originals entitled Enamiĝo Reciprokataj (Esperanto for "Reciprocal Love"), an avant-gyil album titled Nong Voru (“Fake Love” in Dagara) with Ghanaian master xylophonist Alfred Kpebsaane, and original music for a series of poems by Kuwaiti women entitled Astamaea (Arabic for "Listen"). Currently in residence at the Sheikh Jaber Al- Ahmed Cultural Center opera house in Kuwait, she works as a freelance composer, session musician, educator, headliner, and support performer.

Awards

Commission, Music for Theater, Composition - In the Eruptive Mode: Hijacked Voices of the Arab Spring - 2016 National Fulbright Award Semi-Finalist, Ghanaian Xylophone Proposal of Study in Ghana


Tags

29
Album Review

Jeremy Pelt: Soundtrack

Read "Soundtrack" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Although Soundtrack is the name of trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's latest album (more about that in a moment), there is another selection that more readily summarizes Pelt's lyric philosophy: “I Love Music." And while there is ample contrast, camaraderie and color on the album, there is no doubt that Pelt's clear and creative commentaries are the focal point. As for that title, “Soundtrack" is simply the name of a twenty-year-old ballad written for but never recorded by one of Pelt's earlier ...

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Profile

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Brittany Anjou

Read "20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Brittany Anjou" reviewed by Paul Rauch


The city of jny: Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and '30s. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the south. It has produced such historical jazz icons as Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson. In many instances it has acted as a temporary ...

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Interview

Brittany Anjou: Visionary Soul

Read "Brittany Anjou: Visionary Soul" reviewed by Paul Rauch


I began a series of interviews with jny: Seattle-based musicians in the summer of 2016, with half being dedicated to female instrumentalists. After my last interview with bassist Chuck Deardorf, I was given a new piano trio release on the Seattle based Origin Records label by New York based, Seattle born and bred musician Brittany Anjou. Named Enamigo Reciprokataj, meaning reciprocal love in the international language Esperanto, the album is her unique take on the traditional jazz piano trio. While ...

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Radio & Podcasts

The Women Who Wrote With Harold Arlen

Read "The Women Who Wrote With Harold Arlen" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


Halfway through February Fundraising, this broadcast included new releases from pianist Brittany Anjou, saxophonist Jessica Jones, vocalists Kristen Lee Sergeant and Juno nominee Diana Panton, drummer Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom plus a special release from duo Jeanne Lee & Ran Blake, with birthday shout outs to Blanche Calloway, Sergio Mendes and Nicole Mitchell, among others. In the third hour, a special birthday homage to Harold Arlen featuring the women writers who collaborated with him. Playlist Marsha Heydt ...

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Album Review

Brittany Anjou: Enamiĝo Reciprokataj

Read "Enamiĝo Reciprokataj" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


There's a fascinating disjunction shaping the work of pianist Brittany Anjou. In one bend of being, her endeavors reflect extreme faith in the concept of catholicity. As a student of Esperanto--the “universal language" devised by Dr. Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof in the late 19th century--and a musician warmly embracing an ecumenical approach, open lines and the ability to connect clearly play as prime factors in her art. But in an opposing arc there comes an air of mystery, a taste of ...

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Recording

Pianist-Composer Brittany Anjou Introduces Sweeping, Original Vision On "Enamigo Reciprokataj," Set For Feb. 15 Release By Origin Records

Pianist-Composer Brittany Anjou Introduces Sweeping, Original Vision On "Enamigo Reciprokataj," Set For Feb. 15 Release By Origin Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Pianist-composer Brittany Anjou blends the influences of a wide range of jazz and classical piano, and a fascination with the Esperanto language, on her stunning debut Enamiĝo Reciprokataj, set for a February 15 release on Origin Records. A trio album featuring bassist Greg Chudzik and drummer Nicholas Anderson (as well as two tracks with special guests, bassist Ari Folman-Cohen and drummer Ben Perowsky), it also includes 10 original compositions, highlighted by an eponymous five-part suite that showcases both Anjou’s ambition ...

"The eclectic Brittany Anjou, a very gifted pianist with a classical imprint, whose compositions for the percussive use of the instrument recall some of McCoy Tyner's and the Blue Note school of the sixties. Accompanied by the drummer Shirazette Tinnin, and Umberto Lepore on the double bass, Brittany proposes a convincing live set." - Pietro Previti, Magazini Inexistenti, Italy

“Hers is a music about music, a jazz about jazz.” – Charles Mudede, The Stranger, Seattle

"On a planet full of original musicians, Brittany stands out." - Patrick Boyle, Take Five, University of Victoria, Canada

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Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Soundtrack

HighNote Records
2022

buy

Enamiĝo Reciprokataj

Origin Records
2019

buy

Reciprokataj I: Cyrene (Flight Of The Butterfly)

From: Enamiĝo Reciprokataj
By Brittany Anjou

Videos

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