Anthony Branker

Composer/bandleader Anthony Branker is an Origin Records recording artist who has received both a 2024 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant funded through the Doris Duke Foundation and a 2025 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship in Music Composition administered by Mid Atlantic Arts. Dr. Branker was also named in Down Beat magazine’s 62nd & 63rd Annual Critics Poll as a “Rising Star Composer” and has twelve releases in his musically rich discography. Manifestations of a Diasporic Groove & Spirit is composer Anthony Branker’s 11th recording for Origin Records and unveils a new chapter in his ongoing exploration of music as cultural narrative, social inquiry, and collective expression. For this recording, he leads his newly formed ensemble “Other Ways of Knowing,” which brings together an exceptional group of world-class improvisers that include saxophonist Steve Wilson, guitarist Pete McCann, pianist Simona Premazzi, bassist John Hébert, drummer Rudy Royston, and vocalist Aimée Allen. Here, he draws inspiration from histories and lived experiences within the African and Indigenous diasporas that result in expansive compositions that balance cinematic scope with deeply personal storytelling.