Alexander Anderson Artist Bio

The infinite awareness that currently embodies Alexander

Anderson the flesh known as Alexander Wayne Anderson arrived in
Oceanside, California October 4th, 1993. Born to Jamaican parents who
immigrated to New York in the mid 1980s, Jamaican music and culture
was the foundation of his musical development. Around the age of
nine, a family friend introduced Alexander to the piano informally. By
the time Alexander was in high school, he had began studying and
recording demos with keyboards, synthesizers, bass guitar, electric
guitar, acoustic guitar, and acoustic/electronic drums. Heavily
influenced by progressive rock bands, psychedelic rock bands and jazzfusion groups from the late1960s and 1970s. By the time Alexander
had graduated high school, he was beginning to write/produce his own
compositions as well as recording all the instruments.
Soon after, he went to Grossmont College in San Diego, CA to
study jazz performance, realizing after hearing Miles Davis recordings
that jazz musicians could play what they heard, and that he needed to
develop in the jazz language if he wanted to work as a professional
musician. It was here that Alexander received his first formal musical
training, and in two years studying here Alexander had established
himself in the local music scene as a notable jazz musician. He was
leading his own jazz trio, which had garnered residencies at a few local
wine bars. Alexander held the chair in the Afro-Cuban ensemble, Fred
Benedettis chamber group, Full Strength Funk band, and the highly
esteemed Coronado Big Band. He also started meeting many of the
other notable jazz musicians in the area at the jam sessions, such as
Gilbert Castellanos, Charles McPherson, Daniel Jackson, and Peter
Sprague. Soon, Alexander had formed his own group, Unidentified
Fusion Orangement, and they were performing his compositions at a
few venues in the Gaslamp Quarter, the entertainment district in San
Diego.
Alexander was beginning to enjoy a bit of success as an artist,
and after realizing that he could make a living as an musician, decided
that he could not continue school unless he was strictly studying
music. Around this time, members of his group Unidentified Fusion
Orangement had started encouraging him to apply to Berklee College
of Music, located in Boston, the largest independent college of
contemporary music in the world. One of the members of the band had
graduated from Berklee, and another had just been accepted on full
scholarship, so Alexander was compelled to see what the school could
offer him. Alexander was accepted to Berklee College of Music in 2013
with a composition scholarship, which would enable him to make the
transition across the country from San Diego to Boston. Around this
time, Alexander had met many bands and artists including: Yes,

Dweezil Zappa, George Duke, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Hubert

Laws, Marcus Gillmore, Ringo Starr, Peter Sprague. These encounters
encouraged him to continue his musical education.
Just a few days after moving to Boston, Alexander was
performing regularly at farmers markets, solo piano, as well as at the
jam session at the jazz club Wallys Cafe. There he met hundreds of
young musicians from around the world, and began picking things up
from tons of musicians. Soon after arriving at Berklee, Alexander held
auditions and reformed Unidentified Fusion Orangement, and within
one year finished composing and recording their debut album
Abducted. In the past three years at Berklee College of music,
Alexander has studied with Terri Lynne Carrington, Joanne Brackeen,
Stephany Tiernan, Gregory Hopkins, Terrence Blanchard, Eric Gould,
Kenny Werner, Dave Fiuzynski, and many others. Alexander has
participated in clinics/lectures with jazz greats such as Danilo Perez,
John Patitucci, Fred Hersch, Brian Blade, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman,
Benny Green, JoJo Mayer, Jason Moran, and Christian Scott. Alexander
has also performed with Kenwood Dennard, Akikazu Nakamura,
Esperanza Spalding, Tia Fuller, David Liebman, Leo Genovese, & the
Trap Music Orchestra. Important developments of his Boston
experience were attending all six of Herbie Hancoks Norton Lectures
at Harvard, where Alexander was met Herbie for the first time, seeing
Keith Jarrett at Carnegie Hall, and seeing Chick Corea perform at the
Blue Note, as well as solo piano, and in a duet with Herbie Hancock at
Symphony Hall. Alexander also met Wayne Shorter at symphony hall
for his 80th birthday celebration where he was performing with his
quartet. Alexander has also seen performances by Paul McCartney,
John Scofield, Thundercat, Kamasi Washington, Femi Kuti, Ravi
Coltrane, Robert Glasper, Joey Alexander and Jack DeJohnette recently
while living in Boston, which have influenced him tremendously.
In 2015 Alexander went on his first tour as a leader
promoting an EP titled Portals. The Alexander Anderston trio
featuring Rodney Rocques and Will Lyle toured from San Diego, CA to
Seattle, WA performing nine concerts along the west coast. In July of
2015 Alexander led his group Unidentified Fusion Orangement on a
cultural outreach program in Japan, where they performed over ten
concerts in Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka, Tokyo, and Nagoyoa. They also
conducted clinics and jam session at Tokyo School of Music, and Osaka
School of Music with the organization Jikei-Com on behalf of Berklee
College of Music (www.alexanderandersonmusic.com/japan). Currently,
Alexander continues his double-major program of jazz composition and
piano performance at Berklee College of Music. Alexander Anderson
has recently released his first album Eternity of Being, and is
currently working on the next U.F.O. album titled Space Bop.