Source: Burning Ambulance.
Tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson was born March 22, 1929 (three days before Cecil Taylor). He spent his early childhood in Monroe, Louisiana, but his parents separated when he was ten and he moved to Evanston, Illinois with his mother. He began playing as a teenager, inspired by Charlie Parker, Lester Young, and others, but rather than join bands and participate in jam sessions, he focused on solo practice, private lessons, and conservatory study. This may be the reason his language on the horn was as highly developed and instantly recognizable as it was. Anderson is one of those players you can pick out in about five seconds. He never sounds like he’s imitating anyone. His solos have a brooding, regal quality, often lingering in the tenor’s lower register but rarely going all the way down for the bull-elephant roars of David S. Ware or Pharoah Sanders. Instead, he plays long winding lines that resolve just inconclusively enough to keep you in suspense, waiting for the next one.
avantmusicnews.com 