Jay Anderson is among the most versatile and respected jazz artists performing today: Video

24.10. – Happy Birthday !!! Bassist/composer Jay Anderson is among the most versatile and respected jazz artists performing today. Born in Southern California, Anderson began playing acoustic bass at the age of twelve.

Throughout junior high, high school, and college, Anderson won numerous awards for excellence in both jazz and classical music. One week after receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Performance from California State University at Long Beach, Anderson was asked to join the Woody Herman Orchestra. After touring with the “Herd” for a year, he was called by Carmen McRae and performed with the legendary singer for the next two years.

In 1982 Anderson made the decision to move to New York City. Since moving East, he has continued to perform and record with some of the most important names in jazz. Anderson has been a regular member in the bands of Red Rodney & Ira Sullivan, Michael Brecker, Toots Thielemans, Maria Schneider, Vic Juris, Bob Mintzer, Michael Franks, Eliane Elias, Bennie Wallace, Lew Tabackin, Steve Khan, Lynne Arriale, Stanley Cowell, and was with Joe Sample from 1992 to 2006.

Anderson takes pride in his versatility and openness to different types of music. He has been featured on over 400 recordings, including work with Paul Bley, Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, Mike Stern, Jim McNeely, John Scofield, Seamus Blake, Oz Noy, Adam Nussbaum, John Abercrombie, Donald Byrd, Clark Terry, Bob Brookmeyer, Phil Woods, Terumasa Hino, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Tony Lakatos, Tim Hagans, Jamie Baum, Dave Pietro, Mark Soskin, Frank Wess, Lee Konitz, Donny McCaslin, Anat Cohen, Warren Bernhardt, Frank Kimbrough, Dave Stryker, Steve Slagle, Garry Dial, Dick Oatts, Andy LaVerne, Walt Weiskopf, Phil Markowitz, Steve Wilson, Joe Locke, Joey Calderazzo, Scott Robinson, Bob Sheppard, Dave Pike, Blue Mitchell, Harold Land, Tiger Okoshi, George Cables, Russ Kassoff, Ivan Lins, Jay Clayton, Sheila Jordan, Lalah Hathaway, Judy Niemack, Houston Person, Rich Perry, David Witham, Charles Blenzig, Jeremy Monteiro, Yosuke Yamashita, Mark Isaacs, and many others. He has performed with the big bands of Kenny Wheeler, Bob Mintzer, Bob Belden, Mel Lewis, Toshiko Akiyoshi, George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, WDR Köln (guest performer), HR Frankfurt Radio (guest performer), Ryan Truesdell’s Gil Evans Project (winner of a 2012 Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement (Gil Evans) and the Jazz Journalists Association 2013 awards for Record of the Year and Large Ensemble of the Year) and the critically acclaimed Maria Schneider Orchestra whose 2004 release “Concert In The Garden” won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. He also performed on Maria’s 2007 release “Sky Blue” that won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition, “Cerulean Skies” (Maria Schneider). More recently Jay was featured on Maria’s 2015 release “The Thompson Fields” that won a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, and on David Bowie’s “Sue (Or In A Season Of Change)” that won a Grammy for Best Arrangement (Maria Schneider).

Anderson has also done numerous jingles and non-jazz recordings with David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Terre Roche, Tom Waits, Chaka Khan, Michel Legrand, legendary poet Allen Ginsberg, and the Grammy Award winning 1997 Record of the Year “Falling Into You” by Celine Dion. He has performed with classical legends Van Cliburn, Sir Neville Marriner and has been a guest with the Atlanta Symphony conducted by Robert Spano (performing/recording “Oceana” by Osvaldo Golijov featuring Luciana Souza). He was a featured performer (along with Frank Kimbrough and Scott Robinson) with the Australian Chamber Orchestra featuring soprano Dawn Upshaw. Their recording of Maria Schneider’s “Winter Morning Walks” won 2014 Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition (Maria Schneider), Best Classical Vocal Solo (Dawn Upshaw) and Best Engineered Classical Album (David Frost, Brian Losch & Tim Martyn). He has also recorded with critically acclaimed Prism Saxophone Quartet.

In addition to being a highly sought-after sideman, Anderson is a proven voice in his own right. His two original recordings on the DMP label, “NEXT EXIT” and “LOCAL COLOR” have received critical acclaim both in the U.S. and abroad. Jay currently co-leads the critically acclaimed group BANN featuring Seamus Blake, Oz Noy and Adam Nussbaum.

Anderson has been the recipient of the NEA grant for composition and two Meet the Composer grants. More than twenty of the recordings he has been featured on have been nominated for the Grammy Award. He has conducted clinics around the world and is a Professor of Jazz Bass Studies at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.