Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson

Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson

Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson

Saturday, August 5, 2017 – 8:15 to 9:30
North Stage

Wess ‘Warmdaddy’ Anderson is a Classic Swing Stylist with a big sound and irresistible charm – when combined they connect audiences with hard swinging Jazz and the extraordinary man who delivers it.

Wessell ‘Warmdaddy’ Anderson (alto and soprano saxophones) began playing the saxophone at age 14. He attended Jazzmobile workshops in Harlem, studied with Frank Wess, Frank Foster, and Charles Davis, and frequented jam sessions led by saxophonist Sonny Stitt at the Blue Coronet.

Before entering Southern University, where he studied with clarinetist Alvin Batiste, Anderson met Wynton and Branford Marsalis. In 1988, he became a member of Wynton Marsalis’ Septet, with which he toured and recorded for seven years, and was also a member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra since it began touring in 1992 until 2006.

Anderson has recorded and released five solo albums, entitled “Warmdaddy in the Garden of Swing” (1994), “The Ways of Warmdaddy” (1996), “Live at the Village Vanguard” (1999), “Space” (2008), and “Natural History” (2017). Anderson is a frequent participant in Jazz at Lincoln Center educational events, serving as an ajudicator for the Essentially Ellington Competition for High School Bands across the nation. In addition, he served on the faculties of the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies and Michigan State University College of Music as an associate professor of jazz studies and saxophone. Wess is active on the global jazz scene as a full time performer, leader of his own quartet and quintet ensembles, clinician for all levels of learning and a jazz advocate.