Anthony Branker

A composer, arranger, musical director, and educator, Anthony Branker is a highly regarded artist known for his sophisticated approach to modern creative post-bop jazz. A trumpet player by training, Branker has focused on composing for much of his career due to health issues stemming from a brain aneurysm, and has directed groups with players like Fabian Almazan, Ralph Bowen, and Rudy Royston, among others, he has recorded a handful of deeply thoughtful, harmonically nuanced small group albums for the Origin label, including 2009's Blessings, 2011's Dialogic, and 2016's Beauty Within. A first-generation American of Caribbean descent, Branker has also explored long-form suites tackling themes of cultural identity and erasure, racism, and xenophobia, as on 2014's The Forward and 2023's What Place Can Be for Us?, both featuring spoken word by Alison Crockett. He has also garnered respect as an educator, having taught at both the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and Princeton, where he established the Certificate Program in Jazz Studies. Born in 1958 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Branker was raised in Piscataway and Plainfield, New Jersey, by parents who had immigrated from Trinidad and Barbados. While his parents were not musicians, his uncle Rupert Branker played with the Platters and the Original Copasetics with Billy Strayhorn. Anthony started playing the trumpet around age ten and was involved in his school band program. As a teenager, he saw Maynard Ferguson's big band in concert and quickly developed a passion for jazz, later drawing inspiration from players like Woody Shaw, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, and Freddie Hubbard. After high school, he attended Princeton University where he earned his B.A. in Music and a Certificate in African American Studies. From there, he earned his Master of Music in Jazz Pedagogy from the University of Miami and finally, a Master of Education and Doctor of Education from Columbia University. In 1980, while at Princeton, he made his recorded debut with For the Children, featuring guitarist and fellow classmate Stanley Jordan. Gigs followed, including a long stint with the Spirit of Life Ensemble, who held down a regular Monday night residence at the Sweet Basil in New York City. By 1989, he had also moved into teaching, having joined the music faculty of Princeton. He also taught and led ensembles at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. However, medical issues stemming from two brain aneurysms, as well as the diagnosis of an arteriovenous malformation, prompted Branker to give up trumpet and take a leave of absence from his university work. After a period of recovery from his health issues, Branker refocused his attention on composing, conducting, and working as a musical director. In 2005, he released Spirit Songs, his debut album with his band Ascent. Evoking the work of bands like the Jazz Messengers and John Coltrane's quartet, the album featured contributions by members Antonio Hart, Ralph Peterson, Ralph Bowen, and others. It was around this time that he developed a relationship with the Origin label, releasing two Ascent albums, 2009's Blessings and 2010's Dance Music. More albums followed on Origin, including 2013's Dialogic with his Word Play ensemble, 2012's Together with Ascent, and 2013's Uppity with Word Play. Around the same time, buoyed by a grant, he helped establish the Certificate Program in Jazz Studies at Princeton. For the next two decades, until his retirement in 2016, he taught and led many ensembles at the University, including the Jazz Composers Collective, Jazz Vocal Collective, Free to Be Ensemble, and Crossing Borders Improvisational Music Ensemble, many of whom recorded albums under his direction. In 2014, he released The Forward (Towards Equality) Suite, which featured spoken word contributions by Alison Crockett. The album found Branker exploring notions of cultural identity as a first-generation American raised in an immigrant family. Two years later, he debuted his Imagine ensemble with Beauty Within, featuring Ralph Bowen, Fabian Almazan, Pete McCann, Linda Oh, and Rudy Royston. He then offered a spiritual sequel to The Forward with 2023's What Place Can Be for Us?, a ten-part suite again featuring spoken word by Crockett, dealing with themes of cultural erasure, xenophobia, and racism in society stemming from America's history of slavery.
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