Watch
See Dave’s music projects in action…
See the Quartet play “Outer Circle” in the studio
Watch Dave & Grant play “Sanctuary”
See the “Thilmany” in-studio video
Watch the In Lieu of Flowers album EPK (2025)
See the Melting Pot promo video:
Listen
Listen to Dave's Recordings and find/steam/purchase them online here.
IN LIEU OF FLOWERS
This new album pays tribute to inspirations here and gone, while reflecting on the ways people honor those who shape our lives. The new collection of songs pays homage to jazz luminaries Wayne Shorter and Maria Schneider, while also honoring the lasting influence of music educators and personal inspirations in Anderson’s life and family.
released May 20, 2025
Featuring:
Dave Anderson - saxophones, compositions
Grant Richards - piano
Lorin Cohen - bass
Jimmy Macbride - drums
Recorded December 14-15, 2023 at Samurai Hotel, Astoria NY
Produced by Dave Anderson
Engineered by Mike Marciano and David Stoller
Editing by Bennett Paster
Mixed by Mike Marciano
Mastered by Ross Nyberg
Cover art by Mana Hemami
Cover layout by Greg Williamson
MELTING POT
This world-jazz project provides a joyous musical response to the immigration climate, blending Latin American, Indian classical, and mainstream jazz sounds in a vibrant melting pot.
Featuring:
Dave Anderson – soprano (1,2) & alto (3-5) saxes
Dave Restivo – piano (1-3,5) & Rhodes (4)
Hans Glawischnig – bass
Memo Acevedo – drums
Roberto Quintero – percussion
Neel Murgai – sitar (3,5) & voice (5)
Ehren Hanson – tabla (3,5)
Deep Singh – tabla (4)
Bryan Davis – trumpet (1,3)
Itai Kriss – flute (3,5)
Blue Innuendo
This modern groove album pits a sweeping set of original music vs. a familiar group format of tenor/soprano sax (Dave), guitar (Tom Guarna), organ (Pat Bianchi) & drums (Matt Wilson). The result is fresh, spontaneous and “in-the-pocket.” Listen on Spotify.
CLARITY
This debut recording proves that jazz can be harmonically interesting, melodically intricate, and rhythmically hip – and still be totally accessible. These are fresh, new sounds – composed, arranged, and performed with clarity and directness. With Dave (soprano/alto saxes), John Hansen (piano), Chuck Kistler (bass), Adam Kessler (drums) and special guest Thomas Marriott (flugelhorn).
Learn Jazz
IMPROVE YOUR Jazz PLAYING on Any Instrument
I’m an experienced jazz saxophonist who also plays piano, bass and some guitar. I enjoy teaching instrumentalists on any instrument, to improve their jazz performance!
I teach in Park Slope, Brooklyn or at Michiko Rehearsal Studios in Midtown Manhattan. Topics for instruction include:
Developing a sound
Jazz styles
Comping
Chords/scales/harmony
Developing ideas
Transcription/transposition
Composition
Music theory can be a major help to building your jazz vocabulary, but you can use small pieces of information to start making music right away!
Philosophy/Approach
Jazz greats like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock etc. all have highly personal approaches to expressing themselves musically. While not everyone can become a jazz great, I believe that with time and guidance, anyone can learn to…
PLAY WHAT YOU HEAR: Choose things that sound good to you, and learn how to systematically add these sounds to your playing.
PLAY WHAT YOU FEEL: Jazz is an expressive art form. Learn how to harness feelings and turn them into musical impulses.
PLAY WHO YOU ARE: Put something of your personal essence into your playing.
Some instruction programs offer easy, formulaic answers for what you need to improve. The truth is, most people need a custom approach to become a confident, mature improviser. . It will take work, but “which work” you should do next is a crucial piece most students need help with.
“Dave is an extraordinarily talented musician and teacher. As a private instructor he has the perfect combination of patience, generosity, encouragement and gentle rigor that makes you want to practice and improve—and you will improve! I have watched in amazement as Dave, as an ensemble leader with JazzLabNY, has tuned our group of disparate musicians of varying abilities and experience into a tight, gigging ensemble. I cannot recommend Dave highly enough as a musician, teacher and friend to any aspiring musician, be they professional or rank amateur.”
Jazz Lessons
I'd love to hear what you are working on and help you reach your goals.
Schedule a free 15 minute consultation. Then set up a first lesson or sign up for a 4-lesson pack.
Submit form or contact me here:
Phone: 347-930-8520
EMAIL: andersondave (at) earthlink (dot) net
Jazz Combo
Additionally, if you’re interested in joining a year-around, adult educational jazz band, ask about adult Jazz Combo learning opportunities!
Performances
Saturday, May 9 5-6 PM - duo with Sam Lenhardt - guitar. “Open Streets” w/ Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Rain plan moves us indoors to 58 7th ave, 5th floor.
Subscribe to learn about upcoming performances
Dave Anderson Quartet at Boxley’s Jazz Club, courtesy of Jazz Clubs NW
Appearing at Birdland Jazz Club with Memo Acevedo’s Manhattan Bridges Orchestra
Press
Reviews for “Melting Pot”
“How best to celebrate the multiculturalism that has long nourished the heart and soul
of America? ...a celebratory melding of musical cultures in a jazz context.”
“Editor’s Picks”
“ ...in the conversation for jazz album of the
year.”
Reviews for "Blue Innuendo"
“4 1/2 stars””
“A blazer, a hip disk is this! Hear it.”
“A saxophonist to reckon with... consistently fluid and adventurous. Put this crew together with Anderson’s excellent compositions and arrangements and you get an album that cooks from start to finish.”
“Anderson’s tenor playing is rich and synthesizes the influences of John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Bob Mintzer, Michael Brecker, and Chris Potter in one neat package...A very strong candidate early on for one of the best organ dates of the year.”
“Unquestionably, one of the most remarkable saxophone voices on the jazz scene today.””
"Best Albums of 2016" Lists:
"Notes on Jazz" -- Huffington Post
Jazz Views
DOWNBEAT
Reviews For "Clarity"
“A master class in...how jazz-oriented writers develop their material. Mission accomplished.”
Bio
photo by Gulnara Khamatova
New York-based composer, saxophonist and instructor Dave Anderson brings a significant voice to the global jazz scene.
Anderson has performed as a saxophonist around North America with notable musicians including Matt Wilson, Pat Bianchi, Chico Pinheiro, Nicholas Payton and Mel Torme, playing New York City venues including Birdland and Zinc Bar. Although he plays in a modern style, Anderson has received accolades from jazz legends including Ray Brown and Rufus Reid.
Increasingly Anderson has focused on composing original music for his conceptually themed recording projects such as Melting Pot, Blue Innuendo and the new release In Lieu of Flowers. He has recorded over 40 of his original compositions while developing a highly personal compositional/instrumental sound – one that is harmonically complex, melodically compelling and rhythmically exciting, yet accessible and appealing to lay listeners.
Born and raised in Cloquet, Minnesota, Dave Anderson started playing saxophone in his school band at age 11 and eventually won awards as an outstanding high school soloist at area jazz festivals. He wrote his first original songs while still in high school. Attending the University of Minnesota’s Duluth and Minneapolis campuses, Anderson won a full scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival, performing in a student ensemble that also included Clarence Penn, Ryan Kisor, Scott Whitfield, and Laurence Hobgood.
In the 1990s, after a brief time in Toronto, Anderson moved to New York, first working as a jack-of-all-trades for the legendary producer Creed Taylor at CTI Records, and regularly rubbing elbows with musicians such as Freddie Hubbard, Donald Harrison and Larry Coryell. In 2005, he relocated to Seattle and was active on the music scene there. He released the quartet session Clarity, which All About Jazz called “a clear and convincing modern jazz masterpiece of a debut,” enjoying top-15 nationwide jazz radio airplay. Anderson explored the funky and edgy aspects of a chord-less trio with songs by Anderson, Dave Holland and Coldplay on 2011’s Trio Real, before moving back that year to New York to reestablish himself and initiate new projects.
Anderson’s 2016 release Blue Innuendo, explored the rich jazz organ quartet format, with Anderson original compositions featuring Pat Bianchi, guitarist Tom Guarna, and drummer Matt Wilson and earning a rare 4½-star review from Down Beat from Bill Milkowski, who praised its “great chemistry, great playing and good vibes.” In 2018, Anderson released Melting Pot, an immigration-themed world-music EP calling upon colleagues in New York’s Latin Jazz and Indian classical music scenes such as Memo Acevedo, Roberto Quintero and Neel Murgai, that Jazz Times called “a celebratory melding of musical cultures in a jazz context.”
With In Lieu of Flowers, Anderson explores a rich new conceptual theme – the ways people honor those who shape our lives – with another set of original compositions while returning primarily to the malleable acoustic jazz quartet format.
He remains focused on writing new music, performing as a saxophonist and teaching group jazz performance through JazzLabNY.
