Anthony Braxton

Anthony Braxton
Braxton in 2007
Braxton in 2007
Background information
Born (1945-06-04) June 4, 1945 (age 79)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genresexperimental music, contemporary classical music, avant-garde jazz, free jazz, free improvisation
Occupation(s)Composer, musician, educator
Instrument(s)Saxophones, clarinets, flute, piano
Years active1968–present
LabelsDelmark, Arista, Hathut, Black Saint, Music & Arts, Antilles, Leo, CIMP
Websitetricentricfoundation.org

Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto.[1] Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, and was a key early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.[2] He received great acclaim for his 1969 double-LP record For Alto, the first full-length album of solo saxophone music.[3][4]

A prolific composer with a vast body of cross-genre work, the MacArthur Fellow[5] and NEA Jazz Master has released hundreds of recordings and compositions.[6] During six years signed to Arista Records, the diversity of his output encompassed work with many members of the AACM, including duets with co-founder and first president Muhal Richard Abrams; collaborations with electronic musician Richard Teitelbaum; a saxophone quartet with Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett; compositions for four orchestras; and the ensemble arrangements of Creative Orchestra Music 1976, which was named the 1977 DownBeat Critics' Poll Album of the Year.[7] Many of his projects are ongoing, such as the Diamond Curtain Wall works, in which Braxton implements audio programming language SuperCollider;[8] the Ghost Trance Music series, inspired by his studies of the Native American Ghost Dance;[9] and Echo Echo Mirror House Music, in which musicians "play" iPods containing the bulk of Braxton's oeuvre.[10][11][12] He has released the first six operas in a series called the Trillium Opera Complex.[13]

Braxton identifies as a "trans-idiomatic" composer and has repeatedly opposed the idea of a rigid dichotomy between improvisation and composition.[14][15] He has written extensively about the "language music" system that forms the basis for his work[16] and developed a philosophy of "world creativity" in his Tri-Axium Writings.[17]

Braxton taught at Mills College from 1985 to 1990[5] and was Professor of Music at Wesleyan University from 1990 until his retirement at the end of 2013.[18] He is the artistic director of the Tri-Centric Foundation,[19] a nonprofit he founded in 1994 to support the preservation and production of works by Braxton and other artists "in pursuit of 'trans-idiomatic' creativity".[20]

  1. ^ Lock, Graham (2018). Forces in Motion: Anthony Braxton and the Meta-reality of Creative Music: Interviews and Tour Notes, England 1985. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. p. 3. ISBN 9780486832623. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  2. ^ Chinen, Nate (October 4, 2011). "Celebrating a Master of the Avant-Garde". The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  3. ^ Davis, John S. (September 15, 2020). Historical Dictionary of Jazz (30th Anniversary ed.). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. xxx. ISBN 9781538128152. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  4. ^ Jurek, Thom. "Anthony Braxton: For Alto". AllMusic.com. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Anthony Braxton". MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  6. ^ Ham, Robert (September 24, 2019). "A Renewed Spotlight on Anthony Braxton". DownBeat. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  7. ^ Whitehead, Kevin (February 2009). "The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton". DownBeat. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  8. ^ Ratliff, Ben (December 16, 2012). "Following the Tradition of Being Untraditional". The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  9. ^ Dicker, Erica (2016). "Ghost Trance Music". Sound American. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  10. ^ Woodard, Josef (March 2012). "Anthony Braxton: Music as Spiritual Commitment" (PDF). DownBeat. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  11. ^ Testa, Carl. "SA16: Echo Echo Mirror House Music". soundamerican.org. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  12. ^ Walls, Seth Colter (March 28, 2016). "Anthony Braxton: 3 Compositions (EEMHM) 2011/Trillium J: The Non-Unconfessionables No. 380/Quintet (Tristano) 2014 Album Review". pitchfork.com. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  13. ^ Young, Katherine (2016). "Anthony Braxton's Trillium Opera Complex". Sound American. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  14. ^ Corbett, John (1994). "Anthony Braxton: From Planet to Planet". Extended Play: Sounding Off from John Cage to Dr. Funkenstein. Duke University Press. p. 209. ISBN 9780822314738. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  15. ^ Shteamer, Hank (June 18, 2019). "Avant-Garde Legend Anthony Braxton on His 'Trans-Idiomatic' Improv Odyssey". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  16. ^ Wooley, Nate (2016). "Anthony Braxton's Language Music". Sound American. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  17. ^ Frederick, Gerald J. (November 2007). "The African Aesthetic in World Creativity: Anthony Braxton's Philosophy of Vibrational Affinity Dynamics". Journal of Black Studies. 38 (2). Sage Publications, Inc.: 130–141. doi:10.1177/0021934705283772. JSTOR 40034971. S2CID 143776482. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  18. ^ Ratliff, Ben (February 18, 2016). "Anthony Braxton's Tempo Emphasizes the Upbeat". The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  19. ^ "Artistic Director: Anthony Braxton". The Tri-Centric Foundation. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  20. ^ "Who We Are". The Tri-Centric Foundation. Retrieved February 28, 2021.