Will Anderson

Will Anderson is saxophone/clarinet/flute player currently residing in New York City. Will grew up in the Washington D.C. area and was very fortunate to have Paul Carr, a local D.C. saxophone pro, as a dedicated teacher and mentor to allow him to fulfill his potential as a jazz performer. He was drawn to the sounds of Johnny Hodges, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and many others. At the age of 14, will was given the opportunity to tour the United Kindom with the Federal Focus Jazz Band. Recently, Will has appeared with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, Vince Giordano's Nighthawks, the Chris Byars Octet, the Loren Schoenberg Big Band, and has performed weekly at Smalls Jazz Club. On clarinet, Will has been a featured soloist with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and the Stan Rubin Orchestra playing the music of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, and others. In New York City, Will has been fortunate to have the opportunity to play often with great jazz musicians such as Chris Byars, Zaid Nasser, Jimmy Wormworth, Ned Goold, John Mosca, Ari Roland, and Sacha Perry, among many others. In 2006, he was the Second-Place Fish Middleton Scholarship Winner at the East Coast Jazz Festival, received a jazz soloist award in downbeat magazine, was a two-time ARTS Honorable Mention Jazz winner, and played lead alto in the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. Recently in 2009, Will performed his own original compositions in Wash. D.C. at the Kennedy Center as part of the "Betty Carter Jazz Ahead" program, and in Chicago at the Ravinia Music Festival as a Steans Institute Young Artist.