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Dr. Anthony D.J. Branker holds the endowed chair of the Anthony H.P Lee ’79 Senior Lecturer in Jazz Studies, is Founder and Director of the Program in Jazz Studies, and serves as Associate Director of the Program in Musical Performance at Princeton University, where he directs an extensive list of ensembles and teaches courses in jazz theory through improvisation & composition, jazz performance practice in historical and cultural context, jazz composition, and the evolution of jazz styles. He has served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar and visiting professor at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn, Estonia and has also been a member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, Hunter College of the City University of New York, Ursinus College, and the New Jersey Summer Arts Institute. Professor Branker was visiting composer at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, Germany and for the Socrates/Erasmus Intensive Programme in cooperation with the European Union, the Association of Baltic Academies of Music, and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. He has been honored by the United States Department of Education with a Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award, the Institute for Arts and Humanities Education Distinguished Teaching Award, the International Association of Jazz Educators Award for Outstanding Service to Jazz Education, and was the recipient of the 2004 Alumni Award presented by the Association of Black Princeton Alumni. Recently, the New Jersey Association for Jazz Education honored Dr. Branker at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark by presenting him with the 2009 Jazz Education Achievement Award for “Outstanding Accomplishment in the Field of Jazz Studies and Continued Dedication to the New Jersey Jazz Education Community."
As a composer, Professor Branker has received composition prizes, commissions, served as composer-in-residence, and has had his music featured in performance at the Pori International Jazz Festival (Finland), St. Petersburg International Jazz Festival (Russia), Vibe Jazz Club (Hong Kong, China), Kaunas International Jazz Festival (Lithuania), Estonia International Jazz Festival (Estonia), Mt. Fuji International Jazz Festival (Japan), JVC Jazz Festival (New York); concert and club appearances in France and Germany; as well as in performance at such venues as the Iridium Jazz Club, Sweet Basil Jazz Club, The Five Spot, New York’s Symphony Space, the Fez under the Time Café, Trumpets Jazz Club, Estonian Academy of Music, and the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture. In addition, his music has appeared on National Public Radio, was spotlighted at the International Jazz Composers Symposium at the University of South Florida, and has been performed by the Shanghai Jazz Orchestra in Shanghai, China. His works have also been performed and/or recorded by Tia Fuller, Steve Wilson, Antonio Hart, Ralph Bowen, Conrad Herwig, Clifford Adams, Jonny King, Jim Ridl, Bryan Carrott, Kenny Davis, John Benitez, Belden Bullock, Adam Cruz, Ralph Peterson Jr., Wilby Fletcher, Renato Thoms, Kadri Voorand, Freddie Bryant, Talib Kibwe (TK Blue), Mark Gross, Kenny Barron, Eddie Henderson, Steve Nelson, Stanley Jordan, Winard Harper, Joe Ford, Benny Carter, Valery Ponomarev, Cecil Brooks III, Onaje Allen Gumbs, Alex Blake, Sarah Jane Cion, Michael Cochrane, Jann Parker, Curtis Lundy, Steve Kroon, Rick Margitza, and the Spirit of Life Ensemble. During his residency at the Estonian Academy of Music, Branker composed The Eesti Jazz Suite, a five-movement work inspired by the culture and people of Estonia. This work was premiered in November of 2006 at the academy of music as part of the concert tour of the Princeton University Jazz Composers Collective, which was sponsored by the Department of State of the United States, the U.S. Embassy in Estonia, and the Estonian Academy of Music. In 2008, Branker’s Skirting the Issue was performed by the experimental jazz quartet Amparo from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden and the Crossing Borders Improvisational Music Ensemble at Princeton University.
Dr. Branker is also an Origin Records recording artist/composer who leads two jazz collectives that include: Anthony Branker & Word Play featuring Ralph Bowen (tenor & soprano saxophones), Jim Ridl (piano), Kenny Davis (acoustic bass), and Adam Cruz (drums), which recently recorded the CD Dialogic (Origin, 2011) spotlighting a collection of new compositions rooted in conversational interplay, free exploration, and the dialogue between diverse musical influences; and the group Anthony Branker & Ascent, which has released three recordings internationally, including Spirit Songs (Sons of Sound, 2006), Blessings (Origin Records, 2009), and their most recent project Dance Music (Origin Records, 2010) with performances by alto saxophonist Tia Fuller, tenor & soprano saxophonist Ralph Bowen, trombonist Clifford Adams Jr., pianist Jonny King, bassist Kenny Davis, drummer Adam Cruz, guitarist Freddie Bryant, and Estonian vocalist Kadri Voorand. The ensemble’s first CD project Anthony Branker & Ascent: Spirit Songs was cited by the Jazz Journalists Association as one of the “Top 10 new jazz releases for 2006” with the composition “Imani (Faith)” being named one of the “Top 10 best new compositions of the year.” Origin Records , the 2009 JazzWeek “Label of the Year” released the group’s second CD, Blessings, which was a First Round Entry in the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Balloting in the “Best Jazz Instrumental Album” category, along with Branker's composition "Crystal Angel" for “Best Instrumental Composition,” and Ralph Bowen's soprano saxophone feature on Branker's composition “The Holy Innocent” for “Best Jazz Instrumental Solo.” The Dance Music CD made it to the #1 spot on the Roots Music Report (RMR) National Jazz Radio Charts and hit #25 on the JazzWeek National Radio Charts, where it also enjoyed 8 weeks in the Top 50 and 15 weeks in the Top 100.
As a conductor, Dr. Branker has worked with such internationally renowned artists as Clark Terry, Phil Woods, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Jon Faddis, Conrad Herwig, Oliver Lake, Frank Foster, Benny Carter, Ted Curson, Stanley Jordan, Bobby Watson, Terence Blanchard, Bob Mintzer, Ralph Peterson, Steve Nelson, Antonio Hart, Don Braden, Jacky Terrasson, Jonny King, Walt Weiskopf, Valery Ponomarev, Bryan Carrott, Michael Philip Mossman, Rick Margitza, Ralph Bowen, Mark Gross, Clifford Adams, Jeffery Smith, Guilherme Franco, Benny Powell, Michael Cochrane, and Patience Higgins. He has also conducted Terence Blanchard’s Grammy Award-Winning score for A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) from Spike Lee’s documentary “When the Levees Broke” featuring trumpeter Terence Blanchard and His Quintet with Brice Winston (tenor saxophone), Fabian Almazan (piano), Joshua Crumbly (bass), Kendrick Scott (drums) and members of the Princeton University and Rutgers University Orchestras in performance at McCarter Theatre in Princeton. In addition, Dr. Branker has conducted the Princeton University Orchestra in world premieres of two dance works choreographed to the orchestral music of Claude Debussy’s La Boîte à Joujoux (The Toy Box) - including the U.S. Premiere of Debussy’s newly discovered “jazz overture” for this work - and John Alden Carpenter’s Krazy Kat. He has also collaborated with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and conductors Wycliffe Gordon, Loren Schoenberg, and Cecil Bridgewater on joint big band performances of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s The Far East Suite and Ellington’s The New Orleans Suite at McCarter Theatre in Princeton.
Dr. Branker has appeared as guest conductor with the Jugend Sinfonie Orchester (Bremen, Germany), Israel's Kiryat Ono Symphonic Youth Band, Japan's Fukui Junior Orchestra, Estonian Academy of Music Big Band (Tallinn, Estonia), Hunter Jazz Repertory Orchestra (New York), Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts Jazz Ensemble, New Jersey IAJE Intercollegiate All State Jazz Ensembles, and the 2008 New Jersey All State High School Jazz Ensemble featuring performances at NJPAC in Newark and at the New Jersey Education Association Convention at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. While at Princeton, Professor Branker has led performances that have featured the Princeton University Orchestra, Sinfonia, Chapel Choir, Glee Club/Concert Choir, and Gospel Ensemble, and has directed two national award-winning jazz groups, including the Monk/Mingus Ensemble, winner of the Down Beat magazine Student Music Award for “Best Jazz Instrumental Group,” and Ensemble X, recipient of a 2003 Down Beat music award for “Outstanding Performance.” He has also directed the University Jazz Composers Collective, which has traveled to Estonia for concerts sponsored by the Department of State of the United States of America, the U.S. Embassy in Estonia, and the Estonian Academy of Music, and to Hong Kong, China to perform at the Vibe Jazz Club. Professor Branker has also conducted such extended works as Lalo Schifrin’s Gillespiana Suite, Ellington’s A Tone Parallel to Harlem, New World A Comin,’ Music From the Sacred Concerts, the Ellington/Strayhorn collaborative adaptation of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suites Nos. 1 & 2. In addition, he has conducted premieres of such commissioned works as Jimmy Heath’s For the Love Of, Michael Philip Mossman’s John Coltrane Suite, Bob Mintzer’s March Majestic, Ralph Bowen’s Little Miss B, Conrad Herwig’s Reflections of a Man Facing South, Randy Bauer’s Wide-Eyed Wonder, and Laurie Altman’s In Another Time.
As a trumpeter, Branker has performed and recorded with the Spirit of Life Ensemble - including a five-year residency at New York’s internationally renowned Sweet Basil jazz club. He has also appeared at the Pori International Jazz Festival (Finland); Leningrad/St. Petersburg International Jazz Festival (Russia); Kaunas International Jazz Festival (Lithuania); Estonia International Jazz Festival (Tartu, Estonia); JVC Jazz Festival at Sweet Basil (New York); Panasonic Village Jazz Festival (New York); as well as jazz club performances in France, Finland, Germany, Russia, and New York. In addition, he has worked in a variety of musical settings with such artists as Ted Curson, Talib Kibwe, Guilherme Franco & Nova Bossa Nova, Steve Nelson, Michael Cochrane, Calvin Hill, Eddie Henderson, Stanley Jordan, Benny Carter, Ralph Peterson, Terence Blanchard, Big John Patton, Roscoe Mitchell, Rick Margitza, Gary Burton, the R&B group Tavares, and has performed in the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Dinah Was: The Dinah Washington Musical.
Dr. Branker has received fellowships or grants from the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board/Council for International Exchange of Scholars, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, Princeton University, and Ursinus College. He has presented research at the Research in Music Education International Conference, International Symposium on Assessment in Music Education, International Society for Music Education, College Music Society, International Jazz Composers Symposium, International Association for Jazz Education, New Jersey Music Educators Association, and the Princeton University Regional Conference – “Big Ideas: Science, Innovation, and Discovery.” He has also appeared as a guest lecturer for the Department of Pop & Jazz Music at Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia in Helsinki, Finland; Heino Elleri Nimeline Tartu Muusikakool, Tartu, Estonia; Kuressaare Music Academy on the Estonian island of Saaremaa; the Pop/Jazz Program at Viljandi Kultuuriakadeemia Muusikamajas in Viljandi, Estonia; National Endowment for the Humanities Paul Robeson Institute at Rutgers University; “Teachers as Scholars” program for New Jersey Educators at Princeton University; Princeton University Alumni College Seminar “New Orleans: City of Jazz” in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Plexus Institute; Drew University; and has served as program scholar for the Looking At: Jazz, America’s Art Form, a six-part documentary film viewing and discussion series at the Princeton Public Library. He has also been featured in performance with the Delaware Valley Philharmonic Orchestra as narrator of Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait.
Anthony D.J. Branker holds the degrees of Doctor of Education and Master of Education from Columbia University, Teachers College; Master of Music in Jazz Pedagogy from the University of Miami; and a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Certificate in African-American Studies from Princeton University.
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