Jazz Articles about Anthony Branker

Anthony Branker: Jazz Dialogics

by Victor L. Schermer
June 13, 2011

Anthony Branker is a musician for all seasons. He began his career as a trumpeter, including a stint with the Spirit of Life Ensemble, which honored its African-American and Afro-Caribbean roots during a multi-year tenure as the Monday night band at the legendary Sweet Basil club in New York City. Over time, Branker developed an increasing interest in jazz education, which led him to teaching positions at Hunter College and Princeton University, where he organized and conducted memorable ensembles. Around ...

Anthony Branker & Word Play: Princeton, NJ, April 3, 2011

by Victor L. Schermer
April 17, 2011

Anthony Branker & Word PlayPaul Robeson Center for the ArtsSolley AuditoriumPrinceton, NJApril 3, 2011 Trumpeter Anthony Branker's Princeton, New Jersey concert--sponsored by The Princeton Council for the Arts, funded by Wachovia-Wells Fargo Bank, Bloomberg and other sources--was a musical gem set on the laconic, early spring day of Sunday afternoon, April 3. The Solley Auditorium of the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts on Witherspoon Street, is an intimate but fully equipped ...

Anthony Branker & Ascent: Dance Music

by Karl Ackermann
March 15, 2011

Anthony Branker continues to experiment with the standards of large group musical tradition on Dance Music. Leading a revised version of his Ascent ensemble, the composer/musical director takes a different approach than the Latin influences on Blessings (Origin Records, 2009). Only on the last of ten tracks, “Depende," is there a composition in that vein, but that's all for the good, as Branker keeps searching for new ways to articulate a distinctive personal sound. Dance Music opens with ...

Anthony Branker & Ascent: Dance Music

by Edward Blanco
March 6, 2011

Dr. Anthony Branker holds an endowed jazz chair, and is currently director of the Program in Jazz Studies at Princeton University. A composer and musical director, Branker established the jazz collective, Anthony Branker & Ascent in 2004, featuring an A-list of players--among them, saxophonists Tia Fuller and Ralph Bowen fronting a light ensemble, with vocalist Kadri Voorand. Dance Music is the group's third album of all-original music, inspired by Branker's desire to infuse his compositions with an element of dance. ...

Anthony Branker & Ascent: Blessings

by John Barron
April 10, 2009

Composer/arranger Anthony Branker and his ensemble Ascent follow up on the critically acclaimed release Spirit Songs (Sons of Sound, 2006) with Blessings, a spirited collection of progressive jazz. The music was composed during a residency Branker participated in at the Estonian Academy of Music where he represented the United States as a Fulbright Scholar. The recording features a first-rate cast of east coast heavy-hitters.

The disc's themes are strong, matter-of-fact musical statements. The lyrical simplicity of tunes such as “Ascent," ...

Anthony Branker & Ascent: Spirit Songs

by Ken Franckling
May 25, 2006

Primarily working outside of the major league jazz spotlight, but not far from it by any means, Anthony Branker is crafting some of today's finest compositions--and has assembled the sextet Ascent to bring them to musical life. Spirit Songs consists of tunes Branker has written since 1997, performed by a rather formidable unit: saxophonists Antonio Hart and Ralph Bowen, trombonist Clifford Adams, pianist Jonny King, bassist John Benitez and drummer Ralph Peterson. Branker heads the Jazz Studies ...

Anthony Branker & Ascent: Spirit Songs

by Robert R. Calder
March 30, 2006

This star of Spirit Song is Ralph Peterson, not on the trumpet he occasionally plays, but as a drummer who's as much in the front line as any hornman on the date, needing and finding as much inspiration and as many ideas as any horn soloist. Often he plays pretty well in duet with each of the soloists, but not intrusively. He knows what to do. Where a lesser percussionist would need to lay out, he can fit in beautifully ...