June 4, 1945

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Composer and multi-instrument reedman Anthony Braxton was born on June 4, 1945 in Chicago, Illinois.

One of the graduates of the legendary DuSable High School on Chicago’s South Side, he was a member of the AACM, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

In 1969, Braxton released the first full-length album for unaccompanied saxophone, “For Alto”, inspiring many musicians to do the same.

In addition to a full career as a composer and instrumentalist, including work with Chick Corea, Leroy Jenkins, Sam Rivers, Cecil Taylor and many others, Braxton also taught music at Mills College and Wesleyan University.

Anthony Braxton began his career during the late 1960s leading a trio comprised of violinist Leroy Jenkins and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith.

He joined Chick Corea’s “Circle’ quartet around 1970 and after Corea left the group continued to work with members Dave Holland and Barry Altschul for much of the 1970s as part of his own quartet.

The creator of a multitude of avant-garde originals Anthony Braxton has released more than one hundred albums since the 1960s.

Anthony Braxton is featured with his “12+1tet” in Venice, Italy at the Festival of Contemporary Music on October 13 2012.

Personnel:

Anthony Braxton, alto sax, soprano sax, sopranino & contrabass clarinet
Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet, flugelhorn, trumpet, bass trumpet, & trombone
Ingrid Laubrock, alto sax & tenor sax
Andrew Raffo Dewar, soprano sax, tenor sax, & clarinet
James Fei, alto sax, soprano sax, & sopranino
Sarah Schoenbeck, bassoon & shenai
Reut Regev, trombone
Mary Halvorson, electric guitar
Jessica Pavone, violin, viola
Erica Dicker, violin, baritone violin
Jay Rozen, tuba
Carl Testa, bass clarinet
Aaron Siegel, percussion & vibraphone

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