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Robert Barry & Fred Anderson
Biography
Despite being an "old school" musician in terms of grounding and early influences, Fred Anderson was a founding member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and headed several AACM groups in the '60s. Anderson had formally studied music theory and was strongly influenced by Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Gene Ammons. He reflected that training throughout his career, always having a full, huge tone and being a capable blues and ballad stylist. But he also absorbed the new ideas pioneered by Ornette Coleman and other free theorists; it was this ability to merge old and new that made Anderson a seminal figure among Chicago musicians in the '60s.

In the late '70s, Anderson ran his first club, the Birdhouse, named for Charlie Parker, whose music had a huge influence on the early development of the saxophonist. The '70s were also when he began collaborating with percussionist Hamid Drake; Dark Day: Live in Verona (Okka Disk, 2001) is a good documentation of their early work together and includes trumpeter Billy Brimfield, a frequent collaborator of Anderson's since before AACM's birth, and the musician with whom Anderson first traveled to Europe in 1977 (Anderson returned to Europe the following year with a group that included George Lewis).
Selected Discography

Duets 2001
2001