Music From Other Minds

Program 828: Happy 80th Birthday Anthony Braxton

KALW Broadcast Date: June 8, 2025 | Host: Devin King

This program features two extended works composed by Anthony Braxton, who celebrated his 80th birthday on June 4, 2025. One of many solar centers for the universe of Other Minds, Braxton’s compositional output extends from his pursuit of “trans-idiomatic creativity,” Braxton’s term for the way his work—and the work of his best collaborators—cross genre and media in pursuit of expression. Most often introduced with reference to his membership in Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the detail that he recorded the first solo saxophone album (1969’s For Alto), these facts bookend only Braxton’s first half-decade of what is now a nearly sixty-year career as a musician and composer. We celebrate Braxton’s 80th with two works recorded in the last 20 years: 1) a live recording of a sextet from a 2005 concert in the basement of Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art and 2) Act One of Trillium J, one of Braxton’s cycle of twelve operas.

Program Audio

30-Second Spot