Jazz Articles about Anthony Branker

About Anthony Branker

Radio & Podcasts

Arvind Ramdas, Anthony Branker, Harvie S, Aubrey Johnson and more

by Benjamin Boddie
March 26, 2026

Today's Music--Right Now! Fantastic music by Arvind Ramdas, Anthony Branker & Other Ways Of Knowing, Harvie S, Aubrey Johnson, April Varner, Steve Kovalcheck, Bernie Senensky, David Basse, Chenxi Pan, Yelena Eckemoff, The Interplay Jazz Orchestra, Monika Herzig, James Fernando, Hetty Kate, Owen Chen & Eternal Wind, Jeremy Pelt, Melissa Aldana, Dave Wilson Quartet, Vancouver Jazz Orchestra, Pat Bianchi, Alexa Tarantino, Nicole McCabe, Kathy Ingraham, Ron Rieder, Steven Husted, Kurt Elling & WDR Big Band, Mattias Svensson, Michael Dease, Charlie Apicella ...

Album Review

Anthony Branker: Manifestations of a Diasporic Groove & Spirit

Read "Manifestations of a Diasporic Groove & Spirit" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 10, 2026

At the time of this writing (early 2026), the United States is beset by an odious president, a racist sociopath who seems hellbent on erasing all references to achievement or success of anyone of African descent--leaving aside that we are all of African descent; but some made the relocation to North America involuntarily. Stubborn resistance and unvarnished artistic statement--shoulders pulled back, chins jutting forward--are tools to fight the evil fool(s), and Anthony Branker does his part. Uppity (2013), ...

Album Review

Anthony Branker & Imagine: What Place Can Be for Us? - A Suite in Ten Movements

Read "What Place Can Be for Us? - A Suite in Ten Movements" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
October 9, 2023

L'avventuroso post-bop del compositore Anthony Branker, ben espresso dall'album Beauty Within del quintetto Imagine, trova nuovi e più articolati sviluppi in questo What Place Can Be for Us?. Il gruppo conferma il chitarrista Pete McCann e la coppia Fabian Almazan e Linda May Han Oh ampliandosi fino a un medio organico con alcuni dei massimi giovani strumentisti di New York: il trombettista Philip Dizack, i sassofonisti Walter Smith III e Remy Le Boeuf, il batterista Donald Edwards e la vocalist ...

Radio & Podcasts

Horace Silver, Bobby Broom & Anthony Branker

by Joe Dimino
April 2, 2023

We begin the 796th Episode of Neon Jazz with composer Anthony Branker and music from What Place Can Be For Us (Origin Records, 2023). From there, we dive into new music from the young NYC vocalist Emily Mazzella and her mentor Lonnie Leibowitz. From there, we profile tasty new music from the likes of Jimmy Farace, Anthony Bruno, Bobby Broom, Julian Lage and Hailey Brinnel. The show goes out in style with the richly talented Mark Lewis and music off ...

Liner Notes

Anthony Branker: What Place Can Be for Us? - A Suite in Ten Movements

by Michael Ambrosino
February 8, 2023

Ma Rainey channeled music as her ritual of “singing to understand life." Congressman John Lewis leveraged music towards the “good trouble" he created fighting for civil rights in an uncivil land. Anthony Branker understands music as the calculus of his life's work—the art of weaving words and sound into transcendent tapestries that explore the rich, complex, and nuanced aspects of intolerance, beauty, prejudice, spirituality, gender, equality and social justice. The composite of this artistry exists within the remarkable ...

Album Review

Anthony Branker & Imagine: Beauty Within

Read "Beauty Within" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
August 3, 2016

The two aneurysms that forced composer and musical director Anthony Branker to give up the trumpet in 1999 have done nothing to stem the tide of thoughtful and progressive music that he consistently delivers. Downsizing from his “Word Play" ensemble, Branker guides a quintet of new and long-time colleagues on Beauty Within. A regular Branker collaborator, saxophonist Ralph Bowen joins a consummate session man in guitarist Pete McCann who has worked with Maria Schneider, Lindsey Horner and many ...

Album Review

Anthony Branker & Imagine: Beauty Within

Read "Beauty Within" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 1, 2016

The “Rising Star" status isn't confined to fresh music school graduates. Dr. Anthony Branker, Educator--who, for twenty-seven years, was engaged in a big way with Princeton University's jazz program--has achieved a recent “rising star" tag as a composer. This after releasing seven top notch CDs for Origin Records, including the masterful Uppity (2013). “Composer/Musical Director" is Branker's title on his recordings. He doesn't play, but rather molds the sounds of several different small group jazz collectives. On Beauty ...