Anna Webber Nonet

Anna Webber (tenor sax, flute), Yuma Uesaka (clarinets), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor and soprano sax), Ryan Easter (trumpet), DoYeon Kim (gayageum), Mary Halvorson (guitar), David Virelles (piano), Chris Tordini (bass), Ches Smith (drums)

“The music Webber writes is dizzying and convoluted in the best ways, a jagged slalom of meticulously notated, interlocking patterns and riffs that demands pinpoint concentration on the part of the musicians and great focus and openness on the part of listeners. The pieces generate a hurtling tension, flying downhill with inexorable motion, but rarely in a direct line—the performances feel like a deftly choreographed simulacrum of a pinball game.” -Peter Margasak

Anna Webber (b. 1984) is a flutist, saxophonist, and composer whose interests and work live in the aesthetic overlap between avant-garde jazz and new classical music. Her new album, Shimmer Wince, explores Just Intonation in a jazz setting, and is a follow-up to her critically-acclaimed release Idiom. That album earned Webber the accolade of being named the top composer of the year by JazzTimes in 2021. Her music has been called called “visionary and captivating,” (Wall Street Journal), and “heady music [that] appeals to the rest of the body” (NPR). Her album Clockwise was voted #6 Best Album of 2019 in the NPR Jazz Critics Poll, and her 2020 release, Both Are True (Greenleaf Music), coled with saxophonist/composer Angela Morris, was named a top ten best release of 2020 by The New York Times.

The band featured on Shimmer Wince is a new group, consisting of Adam O’Farrill on trumpet, Mariel Roberts on cello, Elias Stemeseder on synthesizer, and Lesley Mok on drums. A prolific bandleader, Webber also has been working with her Simple Trio, featuring John Hollenbeck and Matt Mitchell, for over a decade, as well as leading many other groups, such as a large ensemble, a septet, and the afore-mentioned big band. She has performed and/or recorded with projects led by artists such as Dan Weiss, Roscoe Mitchell, Ranja Swaminathan, Jen Shyu, Dave Douglas, Matt Mitchell, Ches Smith, John Hollenbeck, and Trevor Dunn, among others.

Webber is originally from British Columbia. She is co-director of Jazz Studies at the New England Conservatory of Music.