Rutgers University Jazz Lab Big Band: “The Music of Composer Anthony Branker”

The Rutgers University Jazz Lab Big Band is honored to feature Mason Gross School of the Arts jazz faculty members Abraham Burton, tenor saxophone and Dr. Alex Norris, trumpet as guest soloists with the ensemble on Wednesday, April 17 at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) in a program featuring the big band music of composer Anthony Branker.

For three decades, world-renowned saxophonist and educator Abraham Burton has been a prominent figure on the jazz scene. Showcased as a soloist on two Grammy award-winning albums, Abraham also has been a featured musician on dozens of recordings. Throughout his career Abraham has performed and recorded with numerous contemporaries and legendary jazz artists including Rashid Ali, Kenny Barron, Randy Brecker, George Cables, Roy Hargrove, Louis Hayes, Roy Haynes, Eddie Henderson, Conrad Herwig, Christian McBride, Jackie McLean, Eric McPherson, Mulgrew Miller, Lawrence “Butch” Morris, David Murray, Steve Nelson, Arthur Taylor, Nasheet Waits, and Reggie Workman. Abraham’s own dynamic group, The Abraham Burton Quartet, has been featured at venues and festivals worldwide including the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Moors Jazz Festival, The JVC Jazz Festival, and the Pori Jazz Festival. A part of the Mingus family for two decades, Abraham has performed globally in all three ensembles The Mingus Big Band, the Mingus Dynasty, and the Mingus Orchestra.

Arriving in New York in 1992, Alex Norris found work with the Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Toshiko Akiyoshi’s Jazz Orchestra, and Maria Schneider’s Band, and served as musical director in 1998 as a member of Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead. Norris later performed and recorded extensively with Lonnie Plaxico, Jason Lindner, Ralph Irizarry’s Timbalaye, Slide Hampton, Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Chris Potter, Carl Allen, John Patitucci, Mulgrew Miller, and Brian Blade. Norris is active in Afro-Cuban jazz, having worked with Andy and Jerry Gonzalez, Manny Oquendo, Paquito D’Rivera, and Chico O’Farrill. Norris performs all over the world with his own jazz group and with the Ron Carter’s Great Big Band, the Mingus Big Band, Alan Ferber’s Big Band, Kyle Eastwood, Helen Sung, Miguel Zenon, Amina Figarova, and many other jazz and Latin jazz artists.

Composer, conductor, and bandleader Dr. Anthony Branker is an Origin Records recording artist who was named in Down Beat magazine’s 63rd & 62nd Annual Critics Poll as a “Rising Star Composer.” Dr. Branker has ten releases in his fast growing and musically rich discography that have featured Walter Smith III, Philip Dizack, Remy Le Boeuf, Pete McCann, Fabian Almazan, Linda May Han Oh, Donald Edwards, Ralph Bowen, Rudy Royston, David Binney, Conrad Herwig, Jim Ridl, Kenny Davis, Mark Gross, Tia Fuller, Steve Wilson, Antonio Hart, Clifford Adams, Andy Hunter, Bryan Carrott, Eli Asher, Jonny King, Freddie Bryant, John Benitez, Belden Bullock, Adam Cruz, Ralph Peterson Jr., Wilby Fletcher, Renato Thoms, Alison Crockett, and Kadri Voorand. Dr. Branker’s compositions have been featured in performance throughout the world, including such venues as Symphony Space (NY=), Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture (NY), Duc des Lombards Jazz Club (Paris, France), Sweet Basil’s Jazz Club (NY), Iridium Jazz Club (NY), Vibe Jazz Club (Hong Kong, China), Sydney Conservatorium of Music (Sydney, Australia), Estonian Academy of Music & Theatre (Tallinn, Estonia), Hochschule für Musik und Theater (Hamburg, Germany), Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music (Gdansk, Poland), JVC Jazz Festival (NY), Pori International Jazz Festival (Pori, Finland), Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival (Mt. Fuji, Japan), St. Petersburg International Jazz Festival (St. Petersburg, Russia), and the “Good Music” Festival, (Esbjerg, Denmark).