Ray Anderson's acrobatic "trombonisms" have been described as "breathtaking, death-defying, highly dramatic and full of grand gestures," by Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble director Don Glasgo.
Glasgo said Anderson is "full of swaggering bravado and undeniable sensitivity, a trombone playing Burt Lancaster in some jazzed-up version of 'Elmer Gantry'." Anderson has won several prestigious awards such as Down Beat magazine's "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" category in the International Critics Poll and, since 1987, has won the "Best Trombonist" in the International Critics Poll every year until 1993. At the age of 41, Anderson has cut several of his own albums as a leader and has played with other artists like Anthony Braxton and Charles Mingus.
Anderson follows the tradition, begun by Louis Armstrong, that jazz is deeply rooted in the blues, a music concerned primarily with the spontaneous, heartfelt expression of emotion. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Anderson has the ability to use the trombone as another voice, meshing theoretical and intuitive knowledge of musical construction with a keen awareness of the need for emotional drama in that music.
"What I do now, at least part of the time, is really just talk through the trombone ... There's a sense in which you just talk. And its sort of like you learn all the technical stuff in order to forget it in a certain way. So that when you go to play, you don't think about it at all. You're free to just use the trombone like your arm, your voice and not like a piece of metal that moves this way and requires pressure," he said.
A prevalent theme in Anderson's music is emotional integrity. He is concerned with expressing the emotion at the moment and hardly worries about perfecting technique, which becomes a vehicle for the expression rather than an end in itself.
Oddly enough, he is influenced less by trombonists than by artists like Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Coleman Hawkins (tenor saxophone), Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone) and Louis Armstrong (trumpet)- all pioneers in the concept of "emotional" playing. Anderson said, "I'd hear a trombone player and say, 'That's neat,' and I'd try to figure out what they did. But I'm going for the power and the feeling of the music more than the trombone playing."
A vocalist as well as a trombonist, Anderson maintains a joyous, humorous disposition on stage. During the first half of the concert on Saturday, Anderson will perform some of his prize-winning compositions along with the Barbary Coast and, during the second half, will return with his quartet, which includes Steve Salerno (guitar), Kenny Davis (bass), and Pheeroan AkLaff (drums).
Indeed, Anderson - with his antics on stage and his lively music - will add plenty to the air of festivity this Carnival Weekend!
