Appearing on ECM Records, Pi Recordings and Irabbagast Records, saxophonist Anders Svanoe has brought new creativity and vigor to the baritone saxophone. As leader of the Anders Svanoe Trio, Double Trio, Latin Jazz Quintet, and member of The Transatlantic Art Ensemble (Roscoe Mitchell, Evan Parker, Craig Taborn, Barry Guy), The Roscoe Mitchell Big Band, The Cab Calloway Orchestra and numerous other bands throughout his carreer, Neil Tesser, author of The Playboy Guide to Jazz says, “Svanoe presents originality within the now decades-old tradition of free improvisation – a welcome, promising, and especially inventive presence as the music finds a new audience.”
As a member of The Transatlantic Art Ensemble, Anders recorded two noteworthy ECM recordings in Munich in 2004 (The Transatlantic Art Ensemble is Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory and Evan Parker’s Electro Acoustic Ensemble combined into one “all star” group). One of those recordings, Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 was selected as a “Core Collection” (Top 200) record of all time in the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th edition).
An experimenter of form, harmony, melody, but also honoring more traditional musics, Anders has been at the forefront of progressive music as a musician and author. The Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University published Anders’ exhaustive work on bebop saxophonist, Sonny Red in their Annual Review of Jazz Studies in 2003. Roscoe Mitchell says of Anders, “We need people who can find their own source, within themselves, and create from there. This is the kind of people I want to be associated with, and Anders has got that. He’s an original, definitely.”