About Me
Anthony Branker leads the group Ascent, a jazz collective formed in 2004 dedicated to the performance of original new music by its founder, which has featured some of the most significant jazz artists working today, including Steve Wilson, Ralph Bowen, Antonio Hart, Bryan Carrott, Clifford Adams, Conrad Herwig, Jonny King, Belden Bullock, John Benitez, Ralph Peterson Jr., Renato Thoms, and Wilby Fletcher. The ensemble’s first CD project "Anthony Branker & Ascent: Spirit Songs" was released internationally in 2006 on the Sons of Sound record label and was cited by the Jazz Journalists Association as one of the “Top 10 new jazz releases for 2006†with the composition “Imani (Faith)†being named one of the “Top 10 best new compositions of the year.†This recording is available through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Borders Books & Music, Tower Records, J&R Music, Best Buy, and iTunes.As a composer, Branker has received composition prizes, commissions, served as composer-in-residence, and has had his music featured in performance at international jazz festivals in Russia, Finland, Estonia, Japan, and Lithuania; concert and club appearances in France and Germany; as well as in performance at such venues as the Iridium Jazz Club, Sweet Basil Jazz Club, New York’s Symphony Space, the Fez under the Time Café, Trumpets Jazz Club, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture. His compositions have been performed and/or recorded by such jazz artists as Talib Kibwe, Kenny Barron, Eddie Henderson, Steve Nelson, Stanley Jordan, Benny Carter, Michael Cochrane, Jann Parker, Curtis Lundy, Steve Kroon, Mark Gross, Rick Margitza, and the Spirit of Life Ensemble.Branker is a music professor and head of the jazz program at Princeton University, where he directs an extensive list of ensembles and teaches courses in jazz theory through composition & improvisation and the evolution of jazz styles. He has also served on the faculties of the Estonian Academy of Music as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, Manhattan School of Music, Hunter College of the City University of New York, Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, Ursinus College, and the New Jersey Summer Arts Institute.As a trumpeter, Branker has performed and recorded with the Spirit of Life Ensemble - including a five-year residency at New York’s internationally renowned ‘Sweet Basil’ jazz club. He has also appeared at the Pori International Jazz Festival (Finland); Leningrad/St. Petersburg International Jazz Festival (Russia); Kaunas International Jazz Festival (Lithuania); Estonia International Jazz Festival (Tartu, Estonia); JVC Jazz Festival at Sweet Basil (New York); Panasonic Village Jazz Festival (New York); in addition to jazz club performances in France, Finland, Germany, Russia, and New York.I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
