Meet Alexander Anderson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexander Anderson.

Alexander, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today? 
I was drawn to music at an early age. My parents are both immigrants from Jamaica, where most of my family is from. My father was brought up in Kingston, in the city, and my mother was brought up in Spanish Town, the country side. As a child growing up in Southern California in the 90’s, I was exposed early on to dancehall music. My dad was friends with the artist Shaggy, and would BLAST his music along with Shabba Ranks, Wyclef Jean, Bob Marley, and Yellowman through is two giant 20″ subwoofers in his black Nissan Pathfinder. The sounds of Jamaican clubs would infiltrate the mostly white suburban neighborhood that I grew up in, and early on I gravitated towards the music of my culture, which is one of the things that gave me a sense of identity and pride in my Jamaican heritage. My oldest brother would listen to top 40, all the popular music from the urban stations ranging from hip-hop, R&B, and pop music. This is how I was introduced to Nelly, Ginuine, Sisqo, Master P, The Hot Boyz, Diddy, and all the music running the game in the late 90’s. I was also discovering the west coast music, Snoop, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, 2Pac, etc.

Around the age of five I started playing the clarinet in school, and the piano at home and at friends houses. This is when I started informally studying music theory, notation, and creating a basis of my understanding of melody, harmony and rhythm. I didn’t know what I wanted to do later in life, but looking back I am very fortunate I started learning about music theory at a formative age, which would prove to serve me later in life as I grew into a composer, producer and engineer. I played in band orchestra, but never did much beyond that until I was a teenager. By the end of high school, I was recording songs with me playing guitar, electric bass, drums, keyboards, synthesizers, and also writing lyrics and engineering vocals. I would record a few songs, burn them onto CD’s and pass them out to my friends to play in their car. I never had any idea what to do after that, I just was trying to share my songs with my friends and family and hear what they thought. In high school I was heavy into skateboarding, smoking weed, the occasional psychedelic escapade, and rave culture. I was an unusual black kid in San Diego, trying to find my purpose with a lot of experimentation with hallucinogens and music. Looking back it was a few transformative concert experiences that really set the tone for my direction in life. I saw Roger Waters (from Pink Floyd) perform The Wall in Los Angeles two years in a row. I was religiously into prog-rock music at this time, and also saw the band Yes, Dweezil Zappa with George Duke, and also a concert with Chick Corea’s jazz-fusion band Return To Forever. I think this was a pivotal time for me, and I saw that the skills I was acquiring in music could be a viable career path. I knew by the end of high school that I was headed down a unique path, because nobody else in my school was writing original music, let alone recording and engineering the music on their own. 

By the end of high school I was asked by a Latin-rock band in San Diego to start playing keyboards with them. It wasn’t a great band, but they had a few shows playing birthday parties, and it was an opportunity for me to play in and make some money. I also started playing organd and synthesizers with this funk band Full Strength Funk, which I arranged a few songs for. Once I realized I could make a living from what was my passion, I was off to the races. I started a jazz-fusion band in 2012 called Unidentified Fusion Orangement, started booking gigs all around San Diego with my piano trio. I would busk at farmers markets, art fairs, and play at wine bars, restaurants, and at bars or coffee shops as a 17 year old. I studied music theory for two more years at Grossmont community college, playing with different ensembles, studying afro-cuban music, jazz, classical music, and composing and arranging different music for the groups I was playing in, as well as the Coronado Big Band. So there I was a self-taught pianist, 18 years old, playing all over San Diego, and playing with musicians over twice my age, but I knew I had a bigger destiny beyond San Diego. 

After two years at community college I was at a crossroads. I was making ok money as a musician, and decided that I was either going to drop out of school, or pursue studying music at a conservatory, where I could just focus on music. I applied to two schools, Berklee College of Music, and the New School of Jazz in New York. I ended up being accepted to both schools, but only offered a composition scholarship to Berklee, so that’s where I went. I moved to Boston not knowing a single person in the city, but with the ambition to make the most of the opportunity to study at Berklee. I did not receive full scholarship, so had to take out student loans in order to afford going there, a decision that I still grapple with to this day. You do not need to go to a four year institution to study music, but I am grateful for the relationships I forged during my time at Berklee.

Some of those relationships formed in Boston turned into mentorships and I’ve been very fortunate to be able to meet some of my biggest idols in music and life. I was able to hear and meet legendary pianists like McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, and Robert Glasper. I was able to soak up game on the classical side from Steinway artists Donal Fox & Stephany Tiernan, with whom I studied privately for a few years. Right around my 21st birthday, I performed with Esperanza Spalding at the Berklee Performance Center and then went to see Chick Corea at the Blue Note right after. I remember another night hearing Wayne Shorter and Thundercat in the same day also. I was taking gems from many different artists I admired and putting it onto my own sauce.

I attribute my success at Berklee College of Music to the fact that I had a game plan, and knew what I wanted to accomplish during my time there. The first week of school I held auditions for my jazz fusion band Unidentified Fusion Orangement (U.F.O.), I had all the music written out for what would become our first album “Abducted” recorded in a freezing cold basement in Jamaica Plain, MA released in 2014. I would later take this band on tour to Japan for two weeks in the summer of 2015 where we performed in Tokyo, Roppongi, Kobe, Osaka, and Nagoya, as well as teach clinics at the Osaka School of Music and the Tokyo School of Music. U.F.O. was my outlet for my most ambitious and challenging musical ideas, ranging from atonal classical jams to outer-space free jazz and textbook be-bop improvisations. The live albums “Space Bop” and “Live in Brooklyn” were recorded with U.F.O. during the Berklee years, and stand up as some my most intricate engineering and compositional works to this day.

Before long I started tuning the pianos at Berklee which led to a work-study position tuning pianos I  the practice rooms around the campus. I would tune typically 3 pianos a day, getting my chops up to the point where I could tune by ear. After tuning my own piano at home, in the practice rooms, rehearsal rooms and dormitory for about 2 years, I started expanding and tuning at churches, schools and at friends apartments. This is when I realized I could make income from more ways then just playing the piano or teaching lessons. I built more confidence in the viability of me having a career in music throughout my time in college.

During my time at Berklee I also continued to develop my sound as a solo artist. My debut album “Eternity of Being” captures my crossover tendencies as a jazz musician into all other forms and styles of music. Eternity of Being featured nine different singers, jazz big band, classical string quintets, R&B grooves, conscious golden era hip-hop flows, piano trio, and solo piano. Arrangements include re-imagined jazz standards and mashups between Gershwin’s Summertime and Lennon’s Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. This album is very special to me because it showcases my skills as a composer, arranger, producer, pianist, and as an MC, allowing me to move confidently in any genre or style that I vibe with, and also showing how connected all these different types of music truly are. 

After touring Japan with my jazz fusion band in 2015 and putting out my first album I felt that school was not the place for me. I owed it to my parents to give my all to continue because they were paying for me to go to college, but I felt that many of my professors didn’t have the ability to really help me in my musical direction. I decided to continue for the sake of my parents but to plan as many outside of Berklee opportunities as possible while I was in school. I took my piano trio on tour from San Diego up to Vancouver, Canada in January 2015, and again in January 2016, playing mostly empty jazz clubs, and music bars while trying to build my name recognition. I was slowly building a fan base, and although I was making little to no money, I was getting great feedback which encouraged me to keep performing, writing, and recording my compositions.

Leading up to the summer of 2016 I started working with Sammy Lutomia, founder of Global Youth Groove, a non-profit organization who provides educational opportunities for the youth in Eastern Africa. I served as the musical director in 2016 and leveraged connections and relationships I had in the Berklee community to raise enough money to bring two other African-American students with me. We went as AfroXchange on a month long trip to East Africa, and performed concerts, spoke on national radio, taught music clinics, piano workshops, and also learned from the local traditions and Swahili music experts. We traveled throughout Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, and ended up collaborating with local musicians for a performance at the KigaliUp Festival in Rwanda 2016. 

During my time in Africa, I learned a lot about the transatlantic slave trade, the conditions resulting from colonization in different parts of Africa, and also reflected on the racism, social constructs and way of life in America. This all fueled my second album as a solo artist “Afrikan Amerikan” which was released in 2017. This was my first effort at making a “rap” album and of course listening back there are elements of Swahili music, and jazz music throughout the project. I started taking my poetry more seriously after my first album, and realized that certain things I couldn’t express wit just sounds I could describe in my lyrics. During my time in Rwanda, after visiting the genocide museum and learning about the conditions that led up to that horrific moment in human history, I also got the inspiration to compose my first piece for choir and orchestra titled “We’ll Find Our Peace” originally titled Amohoro after the stadium in Kigali, Rwanda. 

“We’ll Find Our Peace” is my most ambitious and rewarding composition to date, which I called the World Peace Project, my final project at Berklee College of Music (besides my senior recital). My original “blueprint” for this composition was Quincy Jones production of “We Are The World” written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. For this endeavor, I partnered with Berklee College of Music, Artists for World Peace, and Global Youth Groove. I recruited the entire orchestra and choir by myself over the course of about 4 months, and also organized the many rehearsals and two days of studio time needed to record the many different elements of the piece. With the help of some very talented engineers, many amazing instrumentalists, 40 vocalists, and guest conductor Julius P. Williams, we were able to record the World Peace Project in two very long studio sessions, leaving me with over 90 different channels, of multiple takes to edit for the mixing process, which took about 3-4 months. I ultimately composed, arranged, mixed and mastered the song, which I am also playing piano on, which is a feat that I am very proud of personally. You can view the World Peace Project here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxT1BLgLzYQ

Since graduating Berklee, it has almost been like hitting the reset on my career. I left the East Coast to return to California, and have been back only once to produce the album “Show No Fear” with drum legend Kenwood Dennard. That was a great opportunity for me because it allowed me to show my talents as a musical director with a much more seasoned group of musicians including the all-time great guitarists Vernon Reid (In Living Colour) and the true genius Stanley Jordan. Kenwood also opened the door for me to arrange two pieces for the Gil Evans Orchestra, most famous for their work with Miles Davis, who is my biggest inspiration in music. Gil Evans is also my favorite arranger, so writing for his ensemble is truly an honor I never knew I would have. 

Last year I embarked on the “Afrikan Amerikan tour” with my DJ Solomonophonic and with THELASTGEKKO as my opener. This was my first hip-hop tour and was a huge learning experience for me. Performing a pure hip-hop set with a DJ is a lot different than playing jazz with a trio. I’m still finding the balance between my life as a jazz pianist and as a rapper and producer. I have really been trying the past few years since releasing Afrikan Amerikan to garner more attention in the hip-hop and R&B communities. This has led to me directing and producing music videos for my songs “42000”, “Skateboard A”, “Purples Clouds”, “Anxious”, “Plethora” and most recently “Washed Away”. Directing and editing music videos has given me more perspective on how to effectively create a visual story to engage the listener as well as an auditory story to follow musically.

The past three years almost I’ve been in the studio working on new music, which should be released sometime this year. Last year I founded my music company Alexander Anderson LLC, which handles all of my private lessons, commissioned pieces, and my work as a piano tuner and technician. I’m working to design more apparel for my company to have more merchandise, and to increase branding and awareness for my company before I release my next album. 

My entire career up until a few months ago I have been completely independent. Booked my own shows, paying my band, created my own flyers and press releases, handled the advertising, transportation, accommodations, as well as being the artist, producer, publisher and engineer for all my own music. This has given me a tremendous understanding of the different roles in the music industry but I still have a ton to learn. I recently signed with a management company and am very much looking forward to whatever the future may hold.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome? 
I don’t believe in success without adversity. There is no smooth road if you are truly on your path of spiritual enlightenment or really pursing your passion. What matters is how you deal with the challenges you are faced with. I have had moments in my life where I had no money, and had to count my change to walk to McDonalds to order the cheapest thing from the Dollar Menu to eat that night. I have slept on park benches in New York because I didn’t have money to stay in a hotel for a few hours until the bus came back to Boston. I have experienced more times than I can remember, a show on my tour having only a few people in attendance, after traveling hours if not days to perform. I have also experienced what probably every independent artist has, uploading a track to streaming services and getting literally no plays on something that I put countless hours into producing. I remember many times in studying piano thinking, “This piece is too difficult, I will never reach the point of being able to play this as well as this other person”. And in the age of social media that we live in, I have also gotten depressed and anxious over comparing myself to artists that I feel are less talented than myself, and questioning if I should chase the clout rather than pursuing my talent. 

Many of my peers are performing with some of the biggest artists on the biggest stages in the world. I remember sitting in classes with many of these students from Berklee, and then a few years later seeing that they are touring with some of my favorite artists of all time! While I am extremely happy for them, I also think, is there something that I am doing wrong? Am I not good enough? What is wrong with me that I am not getting these opportunities. I think it is natural to some extent to have these feelings, but I am always reminded by my mentors that I am on my unique path. I have a gift, and a unique voice in this world that can not be hindered by anyone but myself. One of the biggest things I have learned is to never seek validation from anyone outside yourself. Chick Corea told me that I should listen to others, but ultimately value my own opinion more than those anyone outside of myself. When you can truly not give a crap about what other people think of you or your art, you are one step closer to being free of not only the judgement of others, but most importantly the self-inflicting judgement upon yourself. I know how hard I work on my music, and know that when the time is right, I will get the shine that I have been working towards. 

I say that everything in life is a sine wave. It has ups and downs, never constantly good or bad. My purpose is to find the inner peace, the silence, the stillness which is constant despite the noise. This is part of my spiritual practice and part of the themes throughout my music. My first album is called Eternity of Being. This speaks on the eternal nature of the spirit beneath the physical form. “We exist in a timeless place, a peaceful state of mind until we fall from grace. Not a breath to waste, Retrace your steps, Forsake your judgement for the spiritual quest of self-discovery. You’ll be uncovering the perfection of the world without perception set me free.”

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Alexander Anderson – what should we know? 
I have a music company called Alexander Anderson LLC. It is my umbrella for the many different things I do in the music industry. I am a composer, arranger, producer, songwriter, audio engineer, pianist, piano technician, MC, educator, graphic designer, and sound designer. I believe am most known for my work as a jazz pianist, piano tuner, and as a producer. I do not necessarily specialize in anything because for me it really depends on the particular project, and the role most needed for whatever project I am working on. That may mean just playing jazz chords and improvising on the piano. It may mean tuning the piano at the World Stage before Bennie Maupin’s group plays. Or it may mean just creating a beat for another artist, and mixing and engineering the session.

I like to use the many different skills I’ve acquired in my time as a record producer, jazz musician, and composer to assist the project to it’s completion. I think what sets me apart from my peers is that I can draw equally as much from the jazz world as the hip-hop world, as the classical music world, as the R&B world, and I feel that my discography reflects that flexibility. I also think that my music reflects a spiritual awareness that is lacking in music today. I speak on truths in politics, society, and in the music industry that other artists may be unaware of, or aren’t allowed to speak on. I believe that music is a tool to spread a message of liberation, of higher consciousness and to change the mental frequency of the listener. I understand that music is not simply an auditory pleasure but a fundamental part of life itself. Matter itself is vibrating, everything is harmonizing with the atoms around it. Music has the power to change the fundamental state of being that the physical plane exists in. I am not just a musician but a spiritual healer, an alchemist, and consciously fighting the spiritual war that we are all engaged in whether you are aware of it or not.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success? 
My most important characteristic for my success is patience. My only time limit is death, and even then my music will continue to influence the future generations and continue to grow even as my body decays. In the age we live in we are so impatient because through social media we are able to see what we perceive as success from others, and feel that we should be further along in our career. I know that I am exactly where I should be in my career, and that the only thing that will take me to the next level is consistency. i have never gotten a hand out in music and have never been that type to wait for someone else to “put me on”. I have always worked for everything that I have accomplished and know that my future accomplishments will be no different. My patience, and faith in my spiritual practice is what places me in the right place at the right time. I have met so many of my idols and inspirations in music and two things that they all have in common is patience and consistency. I am not a one hit wonder type of artist, I am the type of artist you look at my discography on my deathbed and discover something new every time. 

Another very important quality of mine is that I never stop learning new information. It is so important to keep absorbing new things whether it is as a pianist, as an MC, as an audio engineer, producer, or as an educator. You have to constantly assess your strengths and weaknesses. I’ve been working on my next album “Oceanside” for about three years now, and I’m perfectly okay with that because it is getting better and better each time I remix it. Pusha T spoke about for his album “Daytona” he felt that there was no time constraints. He was working from a place free of deadlines, because you can’t rush the artistic process. D’Angelo took over 8 years to put out his album “Black Messiah”, and it sounded like heaven on an mp3. One of my greatest strengths is that I have reached a point where I am focused on making timeless music, so it doesn’t matter if it comes out in 2019 or 2029, the quality of the content will speak for itself.

Pricing: 

• Piano tunings in Los Angeles Angeles at $80

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alexanderandersonmusic.com
• Phone: 6199201464
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/alexonthepiano
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/alexonthepiano
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/alexonthepiano
• Other: www.soundcloud.com/alexonthepiano

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