The Jazz of Wess Anderson
By Joan Baum, Ph.D
Nicknames are telling.
In the case of the well known saxophonist Wess[el] Anderson, “Warmdaddy” was bestowed after
a drummer in the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra commented on
Wess’s willingness to extend his hand to give autographs,
especially to young people. With a laughing modesty, Mr. Alto
Sax notes that people like to have autographs and he’s
only too happy to comply because he’s appreciative of
their interest. It’s still an uphill battle to interest
youngsters and young adults in this unique American music,
but it’s a mission he and his friend and colleague Wynton
Marsalis, whom he met when they were playing with Art Blakey’s
Jazz Messengers, pursue with joyous devotion. When PBS came
out with the History of Jazz last year, Wess saw the series
as a “national anthem.” It
saddens though it does not surprise him that young people today
shy away from what they’ve never been exposed to—“jazz
is hard music”—just the opposite of his own life.
Repeatedly, he speaks
glowingly of his father, his great mentor, who was always
home by 3:00 p.m. from his late-shift job as a subway conductor
on the Carnarsie Line. The family lived then in Crown Heights.
And though his mother was always there to ensure that he
did his homework, his father by mid-afternoon would be setting
up jam sessions. His school friends, Wess recalls, would
not know what he was talking about when he’d
tell them that when he’d come home, he would see a Blue
Note label spinning on the turntable. For Wess the record was
as much a part of the household as his father’s drums
and the personnel who showed up to rehearse—they were “like
family.” He was a kid but he was already soaking up the
environment. Most youngsters today don’t have that advantage, that
prompt, that appreciation—which may be the main reason
Wess Anderson cares so much about education.
Under Wynton Marsalis’s direction (Wess is the lead
alto sax), musicians from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
go out to public schools (K-12) all over the country. Jazz
is a night move, so it’s important to talk to youngsters
and perform for them on their time, during the day. When he
was an adolescent he used to think that all jazz musicians
were at least 30 – 40 years old. His own experience,
because of his father’s example and encouragement, was
unusual. But there is no reason why youngsters should not be
exposed to a jazz early on, including its history, and there
is every reason to hope that they will know it’s important
to study, to be educated about the history of jazz, which is
in many ways, the history of The United States. Sure, jazz
involves improvisation, but improvisation turns on long experience
and informed knowledge. He thinks that the Lincoln Center Jazz
Orchestra’s focus on education is incredibly important. “To
teach well,” he says, is to “relate to young people” who
have no awareness, most of them, of performing or practice.
To that end, he begins most education sessions playing “Happy
Birthday”—a tune everyone knows. He does it straight
and then . . . just . . .bops! He tells them, think basketball:
you want to get the ball in the net, but you want to do it
with style. In other words, improvisation is not random. And
teaching well is never condescension.
Like most serious musicians,
Wess Anderson plays many instruments. He started out on piano,
studied clarinet under Alvin Batiste at Southern University
in Baton Rouge, LA , then moved big time to the sax—“they say, you don’t pick
the instrument, it picks you,” but who knows, he says
with a chuckle, children never select what their parents play.
His 14 year-old son loves the trombone. But why the Alto Sax?
Well, he loves the tenor sax but the alto, it’s got a special “singing
quality,” a beautiful soprano, a sound that just blew
him away. It’s not just love, it’s study. Though
he has a new CD coming out later this year, fans and those
who should be, can hear Wess Anderson at The Village Vanguard
on Tuesday, March 1st. And his father will be there.#
