Anna Webber

“Anna Webber is a rare musician that can comfortably combine intellectual curiosity with pure emotion. Each time I've performed with her, a completely new sound was revealed. She is confident in her path and I am always anxious of her next moves. A brilliant player.”

-Jason Moran

New York based flute and saxophone player Anna Webber is a versatile improviser holding both an open respect for the tradition of jazz and a healthy disregard for its more worn conventions. Her first album as a leader, ‘Third Floor People’ (Nowt Records, 2010), is an adventurous release featuring two bassless quartets – one from Montreal, the other from New York.

Webber has performed with such diverse talents as David Liebman, Ben Street, Lage Lund, Stefon Harris, Dave Douglas, and Douglas Yates, and also appears on the Grammy-nominated album ‘Urbanus’ (Concord Records, 2009) of Stefon Harris’ Blackout. She has toured throughout the USA, Canada, and Europe as a leader and a sideperson. Webber has also received national recognition as a finalist in the Mary Lou Williams Saxophone Competition in Washington, DC, and has been honoured with grants from both the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec.

As an educator, Webber has taught students of all ages and skill levels privately, through music academies, and at public and private school (PS290, Selwyn House). She is on faculty as a woodwind, band, and theory instructor at Manhattan School of Music’s summer camp, and has been a featured clinician for jazz ensembles at schools both in the USA and Canada.

Webber, originally from British Columbia, studied jazz at McGill University in Montreal before moving to New York City in 2008 to pursue a Master’s Degree as a scholarship student at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers have included Mark Turner, Jason Moran, George Garzone, and Steve Wilson.

SELECTED REVIEWS:

“…very interestingly crafted compositions that develop and expand in non-obvious ways. A player and a group to watch for.”

-La Scena Musicale

“Perfectly executed, Anna’s well-guided flights are known to her fans and other musicians. She is a natural leader and it’s easy to see her quartet pushing themselves for the best possible sounds they can bring to her textured compositions.”