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Fred Anderson: Staying in the Game
by Lyn Horton
Bassist Harrison Bankhead and drummer Tim Daisy open with a rhythmic standard for tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson in Staying In The Game. An innate sense of melody springs from Anderson, a pure-tone player if there ever was one. But even more noteworthy is the ease with which Anderson improvises on one set of phrases.
“Sunday Afternoon" absorbs nearly half of the recording. Mastery of his musicianship over sixty years allows Anderson to manufacture unstoppable variations on his first back-and-forth, up-and-down ...
Continue ReadingFred Anderson: Staying in the Game
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Of all the tenor saxophonists still making music today, Fred Anderson--like Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp and, at times, Wayne Shorter--still has the ability to get under the skin. Anderson's tone is so warm and rich and sensuous that when he sounds a note, it echoes under the body's largest organ, and not necessarily inside the head. Programmatic music tends to be cerebral, but not Fred Anderson's; this is because there is something quite extraordinarily urgent and heartfelt about the music ...
Continue ReadingFred Anderson: Staying in the Game
by Henry Smith
Tenor saxophone veteran Fred Anderson has remained a fixture on the free jazz scene since his co-founding of the AACM. Seemingly never inactive, Anderson follows up the critically acclaimed quintet album From the River to the Ocean (Thrill Jockey, 2007) with a more intimate trio outing. Featuring the previous album's bassist, Harrison Bankhead, alongside drummer Tim Daisy, the album is a true showcase for Anderson and the supple rhythm section backing him.
Opening with the lengthy ...
Continue ReadingFred Anderson Quartet: Live at the Velvet Lounge Volume III
by Jeff Stockton
Fred Anderson's sound on tenor can be heard in his stance. With his horn hung on a harness that looks like something a moving man would wear as he prepares to hoist a TV, Anderson bends his knees and hunches over as if muscle more than breath is needed to lift the notes into the air. He doesn't double on other instruments. His improvising vocabulary is drawn from a series of exercises he's developed over the decades and keeps in ...
Continue ReadingThe Velvet Trio at Sons d'Hiver, Paris, February 1, 2008
by John Sharpe
Fred Anderson, The Velvet Trio Sons d'Hiver Festival Espace Culturel Andre Malraux, Le Kremlin-Bic'tre Paris, France February 1, 2008
Velvet: a smooth surface; silky. Dictionary definitions hint at just some of the attributes of the Velvet Trio. Of course the name originates not as a descriptor but from Chicago tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson's fabled Velvet Lounge, where he has spent many fertile hours in the company of drummer Hamid Drake and ...
Continue ReadingFred Anderson and Chad Taylor: Polishing the Sound at UMass
by Lyn Horton
Fred Anderson and Chad Taylor Solos and Duos Concert Series University of Massachusetts at Amherst December 5, 2007
The function of superlatives is to thrust what is being described into a zone of excellence considered untouchable. Such hyperbolic words can paradoxically lose power, especially when used so much they become meaningless. Simply choosing the precise words that will give meaning to a musical experience, verbalizing the non-verbal, is hard enough without getting overwhelmed by ...
Continue ReadingFred Anderson: Customizing Conviction
by Lyn Horton
Carrying on tradition brings history through time without imitation. Not all musicians make it their job to ensure that the music of the past, while changeable as a result of the passage of cultural time, stays intact. It's all about new tunes and improvisation: the creation of music that upholds the tradition, with those to whom that tradition is handed down allowing it to continue. Saxophonist Fred Anderson has not relented in his intention to keep modern jazz alive. Anderson ...
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