Wessell Anderson, b. 1966, Brooklyn) is an American jazz alto-saxophonist. Anderson was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and began playing jazz at an early age, thanks to his father, a drummer. From his early teens, Anderson played in local clubs and attended Jazzmobile workshops with Charles Davis, Frank Foster, and Frank Wess. He met Branford Marsalis who convinced him to go to Southern University in Louisiana. Anderson soon began touring with Wynton Marsalis Septet and continued to collaborate with Marsalis throughout the 1990s. After this, Anderson continued playing with Marsalis’s Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. He released his debut album in 1994 on Atlantic Records. Eric Reed and Ben Wolfe played sidemen. Live at the Village Vanguard, his 1998 album, featured Irvin Mayfield and Steve Kirby. Xavier Davis was also on the record. Wess is married a former Desimonae Moore from Baton Rouge. Their son Wessell Anderson IV is affectionately called Quad. Quad is a University of New Orleans student who shares his father’s passion for music and has started a new music career as an upcoming jazz trombonist. The Andersons also have a “baby”, a restaurant called “Gumbo” in East Lansing.
