Biography
Trombonist Alan Ferber maintains a busy schedule as a performer, composer, arranger, and educator whose approach blends respect for jazz heritage with forward momentum. He entered the world in Oakland, California in 1975 and grew up in a household filled with music beside his sibling, drummer Mark Ferber. His grandmother, a Broadway actress and singer, first exposed him to jazz and show tunes, prompting him to begin piano studies at age four before shifting to trombone near age ten. A jazz workshop during his teenage years ignited a lasting passion for the idiom, prompting close listening to figures such as J.J. Johnson, Curtis Fuller, and Art Blakey. Throughout high school he and his brother regularly convened informal sessions at home, drawing classmates into collective improvisation. Upon graduation he secured a scholarship to UCLA yet completed an economics degree while fulfilling the award’s requirements through participation in the school’s jazz groups.
After receiving his diploma in 1997 he worked as a professional musician in Los Angeles for several years before settling in New York City. There he accumulated an extensive résumé spanning multiple styles, contributing to recordings by pop figures including Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Sufjan Stevens, Michael Bublé, and the National. Parallel jazz projects linked him with kindred spirits such as David Binney, Nels Cline, Todd Sickafoose, and Miguel Zenón. His own discography began in 2005 with Scenes from an Exit Row on Fresh Sound New Talent, followed in 2007 by The Compass. Subsequent releases appeared on Sunnyside, among them the 2010 set Music for Nonet and Strings: Chamber Songs, which featured his wife, cellist Jody Redhage; March Sublime in 2013; and Roots & Transitions in 2016. His seventh leader date, Jigsaw, arrived in 2017. Outside the recording studio he maintains an active teaching practice, serving on the faculties of the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, and New York University’s Steinhardt School, where he holds an adjunct professorship in jazz studies.
After receiving his diploma in 1997 he worked as a professional musician in Los Angeles for several years before settling in New York City. There he accumulated an extensive résumé spanning multiple styles, contributing to recordings by pop figures including Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Sufjan Stevens, Michael Bublé, and the National. Parallel jazz projects linked him with kindred spirits such as David Binney, Nels Cline, Todd Sickafoose, and Miguel Zenón. His own discography began in 2005 with Scenes from an Exit Row on Fresh Sound New Talent, followed in 2007 by The Compass. Subsequent releases appeared on Sunnyside, among them the 2010 set Music for Nonet and Strings: Chamber Songs, which featured his wife, cellist Jody Redhage; March Sublime in 2013; and Roots & Transitions in 2016. His seventh leader date, Jigsaw, arrived in 2017. Outside the recording studio he maintains an active teaching practice, serving on the faculties of the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, and New York University’s Steinhardt School, where he holds an adjunct professorship in jazz studies.
Albums
