Alexander Anderson

Hailing from California, Alexander Anderson stands out as an innovative pianist, keyboardist, composer, and arranger whose approach blends jazz and fusion rooted in the 1970s with elements of hip-hop and R&B. Born in 1993 to parents who had immigrated from Jamaica, he first took up the piano near the age of nine. During his teenage years he began producing personal recordings in which he handled guitar, keyboards, drums, and bass, drawing from his affinity for psychedelic rock, prog rock, and jazz fusion of the 1960s and 1970s. Only after enrolling at Grossmont College in San Diego did he pursue structured jazz training. In his initial two years there, he matured into a skilled jazz pianist, performed locally with a trio of his own, and launched the experimental fusion group Unidentified Fusion Orangement (U.F.O.). Seeking additional development, and influenced by several U.F.O. colleagues, he entered Boston’s Berklee School of Music on a composition scholarship in 2013, quickly becoming immersed in the city’s dynamic jazz community. While attending Berklee he reassembled U.F.O. and issued the ensemble’s first album, Abducted, in 2014. The following year he issued the solo EP Portals. In 2016 he unveiled his first full-length solo release, Eternity of Being. The project, which included contributions from several guest vocalists, united his interest in electrified psychedelic jazz and fusion from the 1970s with contemporary hip-hop and R&B leanings.