Songs My Mom Liked Anthony Branker & Imagine

• 1 Praise 06:01
• 2 Sketches of Selim 07:01
• 3 The Holy Innocent (for KB and the Children of Gaza) 05:42
• 4 Crystal Angel 07:15
• 5 Land of Milk & Honey 06:15
• 6 The House of the Brotherhood of Black Heads 06:57
• 7 Three Gifts (From a Nigerian Mother to God) 06:24
• 8 Imani (Faith) 05:46
• 9 Hope 05:45
• 10 When We Said Goodbye 05:31
• 11 To Be Touched (By the Spirit) 05:46
• 12 If... 06:05
• Total Runtime 01:14:28

Info for Songs My Mom Liked

Celebrating the life and resilience of his 88-year-old mother, composer Dr. Anthony Branker's 10th Origin release is a gift to Joan Branker who has been mightily challenged by the ongoing cognitive decline of dementia. Conceptualized after witnessing how her face would brighten and her body would start to move when listening to his earlier music, he was driven to re-imagine 11 of these compositions, along with "If...," written by his daughter at 11, for his brilliant ensemble, Imagine. Saxophonist Donny McCaslin, trumpeter Philip Dizack, pianist Fabian Almazan, bassist Linda May Han Oh, drummer Rudy Royston, guitarist Pete McCann, and vocalist Aubrey Johnson each bring inspired musicianship and deep soul to the lyrical flow, ingenious rhythmic interplay, and spirited performances that have come to define Branker's projects. Songs My Mom Liked is yet another engrossing project and celebration of life, from the mind and pen of Anthony Branker.

“Honing a hybrid of freewheeling post-bop and social commentary, abetted by judicious dollops of funk, fusion, spoken word, clave and polyrhythmic percussion...Branker incorporates these elements in broad, bold strokes, like a muralist. He has yet to make a bad record.” (JAZZTIMES)

“The composer (Branker) illuminates the pungent individuality of each musician without compromising the prominence of his own voice" (JAZZIZ)

"Time passes, and an impressive number of connections are made year after year with people we admire. This is the case with composer Anthony Branker, one of the most remarkable American composers, with whom I will share an interview soon. In Anthony Branker's work, humanity is as significant as his music. We remember his impressive album released in ..." (Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move)

Donny McCaslin, tenor & soprano saxophones
Philip Dizack, trumpet
Fabian Almazan, piano
Linda May Han Oh, double bass
Rudy Royston, drums
Pete McCann, guitar
Aubrey Johnson, vocals
Anthony Branker, composer & musical director

Recorded by Mike Marciano of Systems Two, NY at Samurai Hotel Recording Studios, Astoria, NY
Recorded on January 8, 2024
Mixed by Mike Marciano & Anthony Branker at Systems Two, NY
Mastered by Mike Marciano at Systems Two, NY
Produced by Anthony Branker

Anthony Branker
Composer, conductor, and bandleader Anthony Branker is an Origin Records recording artist who was named in DownBeat magazine's 63rd & 62nd Annual Critics Poll as a "Rising Star Composer." Dr. Branker has nine releases in his fast growing and musically rich discography that include: What Place Can Be For Us? (Origin, 2023), Beauty Within (Origin, 2016), The Forward (Towards Equality) Suite (Origin, 2014), Uppity (Origin, 2013), Together (Origin, 2012), Dialogic (Origin, 2011), Dance Music (Origin, 2010), Blessings (Origin, 2009), and Spirit Songs (Sons of Sound, 2006), which have featured Walter Smith III, Philip Dizack, Remy LeBoeuf, Fabian Almazan, Linda May Han Oh, Donald Edwards, Pete McCann, Alison Crockett, Rudy Royston, Ralph Bowen, David Binney, Conrad Herwig, Jim Ridl, Kenny Davis, Renato Thoms, Mark Gross, Tia Fuller, Steve Wilson, Antonio Hart, Clifford Adams, Andy Hunter, Eli Asher, Jonny King, Bryan Carrott, John Benitez, Belden Bullock, Adam Cruz, Ralph Peterson Jr., Wilby Fletcher, Kadri Voorand, and Freddie Bryant.

Dr. Branker's releases Beauty Within and The Forward (Towards Equality) Suite won Gold and Silver awards respectively at the Global Music Awards and he was a Third Place Winner in the 2021 International Songwriting Competition (ISC) in the jazz category for his composition "Joy." He has received commissions, served as a visiting composer, and has had his music featured in performance in Poland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, France, Estonia, Russia, Australia, China, Germany, Lithuania, and Japan. Dr. Branker's works have also been performed and/or recorded by the New Wind Jazz Orchestra, Sylvan Winds with Max Pollack Dance Ensemble, Composers Concordance Big Band, Princeton University Orchestra, Rutgers University Jazz Ensemble, Princeton University Jazz Composers Collective, Rutgers Avant Garde Ensemble, Orrin Evans, Steve Nelson, Stanley Jordan, Talib Kibwe (TK Blue), Curtis Lundy, James Weidman, Calvin Hill, Steve Kroon, Jann Parker, and the Spirit of Life Ensemble, and have featured such guest soloists as Kenny Barron, Eddie Henderson, Winard Harper, John Hicks, Valery Ponomarev, Joe Ford, Cecil Brooks III, Onaje Allen Gumbs, and Alex Blake.

Dr. Anthony Branker was on the faculty at Princeton University for 27 years, where he held an endowed chair in jazz studies, was founding director of the program in jazz studies, and associate director of musical performance until his retirement in 2016. Currently, he is on the jazz studies faculty at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts where his teaching responsibilities have included graduate and undergraduate courses in jazz historiography, composition & arranging, theory, improvisation, and directing the Avant Garde Ensemble and Rutgers Jazz Ensemble II. Dr. Branker has also served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar at the Estonian Academy of Music & Theatre and has been a member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, Hunter College (CUNY), Ursinus College, and the New Jersey Summer Arts Institute. He was also visiting composer at the Southern Danish Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Odense/Esbjerg, Denmark; Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, Germany; and the Estonian Academy of Music & Theatre in Tallinn, Estonia.

This album contains no booklet.