Anthony Branker

Anthony Branker Biography

Composer 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.” Branker's music has been featured in performance at the Pori International Jazz Festival (Finland), St. Petersburg International Jazz Festival (Russia), Kaunas International Jazz Festival (Lithuania), Mt. Fuji International Jazz Festival (Japan), Estonia International Jazz Festival (Estonia), JVC Jazz Festival (New York); concert and club appearances in China, France, and Germany; as well as in performance at such venues as the Iridium Jazz Club, Sweet Basil Jazz Club, The Five Spot, New York’s Symphony Space, the Fez under the Time Café, Trumpets Jazz Club, Estonian Academy of Music, and the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture. His works have been performed and/or recorded by Steve Nelson, Stanley Jordan, Talib Kibwe, Conrad Herwig, Mark Gross, Curtis Lundy, Steve Kroon, Rick Margitza, Jann Parker, and the Spirit of Life Ensemble and have featured such guest soloists as Kenny Barron, Eddie Henderson, Winard Harper, John Hicks, Valery Ponomarev, Joe Ford, Cecil Brooks III, Onaje Allen Gumbs, Alex Blake, Sarah Jane Cion, and Benny Carter. During his residency at the Estonian Academy of Music, Branker composed "The Eesti Jazz Suite," a five-movement work inspired by the culture and people of Estonia. This work was premiered in November of 2006 at the academy of music as part of the concert tour of the Princeton University Jazz Composers Collective. His composition "Skirting the Issue" was featured as part of a collaborative performance in 2008 by the experimental jazz quartet Amparo from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden and the Crossing Borders Improvisational Music Ensemble at Princeton University. 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); as well as jazz club performances in France, Finland, Germany, Russia, and New York. In addition, he has worked in a variety of musical settings with such artists as Ted Curson, Talib Kibwe, Guilherme Franco & Nova Bossa Nova, Steve Nelson, Michael Cochrane, Calvin Hill, Eddie Henderson, Stanley Jordan, Benny Carter, Ralph Peterson, Terence Blanchard, Big John Patton, Roscoe Mitchell, Rick Margitza, Gary Burton, the R&B group Tavares, and has performed in the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Dinah Was: The Dinah Washington Musical. Branker is also 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.