Anna Kristin Webber is a Canadian saxophonist, flutist, and composer of avant-garde jazz based in Brooklyn. A Guggenheim Award-winning composer, Webber has released a number of critically-acclaimed albums as leader or co-leader, and received accolades for her work as saxophonist, flutist, and arranger.
Early life and education
Originally from British Columbia, Webber began her studies at Montreal's McGill University. In 2008, she moved to New York City and began a master's degree at Manhattan School of Music.
In 2010, Webber completed her master's, was awarded the Prix François-Marcaurelle at Montreal's L'OFF Festival, and released her debut album as leader, Third Floor People Don't Need to Worry About Anything. Third Floor People features a cast of seven, with Webber as the fixed constant between two quartets: tracks feature either the "Montreal People" (Erik Hove, Jean-Sebastien Williams, Phil Melanson) or the "New York People" (Matt Holman, Owen Stewart, Fred Kennedy).
Webber moved to Germany in 2011 to study with John Hollenbeck at the Jazz Institut Berlin. Hollenbeck later became a member of Webber's Simple Trio. Webber first began working on compositions for big band while in the program, and completed her second master's degree in 2012.
Career From 2013 to 2016, Webber's releases as leader alternated between her Percussive Mechanics septet and her Simple Trio. The self-titled Percussive Mechanics, featuring James Wylie, Elias Stemeseder, Julius Heise, Igor Spallati, Martin Kruemmling, and Max Andrzejewski, was released on Pirouet Records in 2013, with the group's Refraction following two years later. In 2014, Webber was awarded the prestigious BMI Foundation Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize and released SIMPLE, the highly-lauded debut of her trio with John Hollenbeck and pianist Matt Mitchell, on Skirl Records. Two years later, Binary was also released to great acclaim.
In 2017, Webber received a New York Foundation for the Arts Canadian Women Artists’ Award, and in 2018 she was awarded a Guggenheim Award for her work in music composition.
Webber's Clockwise (Pi, 2019) introduced a septet with Jeremy Viner, Jacob Garchik, Christopher Hoffman, Matt Mitchell, Chris Tordini, and Ches Smith. The album was included in the top ten of the 2019 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.
The Webber/Morris Big Band, co-led with Angela Morris, released its debut Both Are True on Greenleaf Music in April 2020; the album was included in The New York Times 10 Best Jazz Albums of the year and Bandcamp Daily's Best Jazz Albums of 2020. Later that year she also released Rectangles (Out Of Your Head Records), featuring Marc Hannaford, Adam Hopkins, and Mark Ferber. The quartet's record was included among DownBeat'''s Best Albums of 2020.
Webber was a 2021 Berlin Prize Fellow and a featured performer on Remy Le Boeuf's "Strata", a nominee for the 2021 Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition.
Co-led projects include trios Jagged Spheres (with Elias Stemeseder, Devin Gray), The Hero of Warchester (with Nathaniel Morgan, Liz Kosack), and the COVID-recent TAC Trio (with Chris Tordini, Theo Bleckmann), as well as the acronymic quartet EAVE with Erik Hove, Vicky Mettler, and Evan Tighe.
Webber's work is often guided by conceptual constraints. Clockwise, the septet record she composed during the first of her two MacDowell residencies, was informed by John Cage's works for percussion; Binary'' was partly inspired by the now-defunct automated YouTube account Webdriver Torso, and at times directed by the assignation of pitches and intervals to the numbers in Webber's IP address.
Discography
As leader Release yearArtistTitleLabelAdditional personnel2010Anna WebberThird Floor PeopleNowtErik Hove, Jean-Sebastien Williams, Phil Melanson, Matt Holman, Owen Stewart, Fred Kennedy2013Anna WebberPercussive MechanicsPirouetJames Wylie, Elias Stemeseder, Julius Heise, Igor Spallati, Martin Kruemmling, Max Andrzejewski 2014Anna WebberSIMPLESkirlMatt Mitchell, John Hollenbeck2015Anna Webber's Percussive MechanicsRefractionPirouetJames Wylie, Elias Stemeseder, Julius Heise, Igor Spallati, Martin Kruemmling, Max Andrzejewski2016Anna Webber's Simple TrioBinarySkirlMatt Mitchell, John Hollenbeck2019Anna WebberClockwisePiJeremy Viner, Jacob Garchik, Christopher Hoffman, Matt Mitchell, Chris Tordini, Ches Smith2020Anna WebberRectanglesOut Of Your Head RecordsMarc Hannaford, Adam Hopkins, Mark Ferber2020Webber/Morris Big BandBoth Are TrueGreenleaf MusicAngela Morris, Jay Rattman, Charlotte Greve, Adam Schneit, Lisa Parrott, John Lake, Jake Henry, Adam O'Farrill, Kenny Warren, Tim Vaughn, Nick Grinder, Jen Baker, Reginald Chapman, Patricia Brennan, Dustin Carlson, Marc Hannaford, Adam Hopkins, Jeff Davis2021Anna WebberIdiomPiDisc One: Matt Mitchell, John Hollenbeck; Disc Two: Nathaniel Morgan, Yuma Uesaka, Adam O’Farrill, David Byrd-Marrow, Jacob Garchik, Erica Dicker, Joanna Mattrey, Mariel Roberts, Liz Kosack, Nick Dunston, Satoshi Takeishi, Eric Wubbels
As co-leader Release yearArtistTitleLabelPersonnel2014Elias Stemeseder / Devin Gray / Anna WebberJagged SpheresSelf-releasedStemeseder, Gray, Webber2015The Hero of WarchesterThe Hero of WarchesterProm Night RecordsNathaniel Morgan, Liz Kosack, Anna Webber2016EaveEAVEAstral SpiritsErik Hove, Anna Webber, Vicky Mettler, Evan Tighe2017Elias Stemeseder / Devin Gray / Anna WebberJagged Spheres IISelf-releasedStemeseder, Gray, Webber2018The Hero of WarchesterThe Four AmericasSelf-releasedNathaniel Morgan, Liz Kosack, Anna Webber2020TAC TrioCIXSelf-releasedChris Tordini, Theo Bleckmann, Anna Webber
As sideperson Release year Leader Title Label2009Stefon HarrisUrbanusBlue Note2011Daniel Jamieson's Danjam OrchestraSudden AppearanceOA2 Records2014Noah GarabedianBig Butter and the EggmenBrooklyn Jazz Underground Records2015Guilhem FlouzatPortraitsSunnyside2016Dan WeissSixteen: Drummers SuitePi Recordings2017Matt MitchellA Pouting GrimacePi2017Jen ShyuSong of Silver GeesePi2017Harris EisenstadtRecent DevelopmentsSonglines2017Fabian Almazan / Realm of PossibilitiesSWR New Jazz Meeting 2015Jazzhaus2018Adam HopkinsCricketsOut of Your Head Records2018Ken ThomsonSextetPanoramic Recordings2018Katell Keineg / Jeff Taylor / Marike Van DijkThe Stereography ProjectBrooklyn Jazz Underground Records2018Enrique HaneineThe Mind's MuralElegant Walk Records2019Dave DouglasEngageGreenleaf2019Remy Le BoeufAssembly of ShadowsSoundspore Records2019Colin HintonSimulacraPanoramic Recordings2020Raf Vertessen QuartetLOIEl Negocito Records2022Trevor Dunn's Trio-ConvulsantSéancesPyroclastic Records
References
External links
Anna Webber's homepage Bandcamp