Wessell Anderson

Wessell "Warmdaddy" Anderson (born 1966 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American jazz alto and sopranino saxophonist. Anderson grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, and played jazz early on at the urging of his father, who was a drummer. He played in local clubs from his early teenage years, and studied at the Jazzmobile workshops with Frank Wess, Charles Davis, and Frank Foster. He also met Branford Marsalis, who convinced him to study with Alvin Batiste at Southern University in Louisiana. Soon after this, Anderson began touring with the Wynton Marsalis Septet, and collaborated with Marsalis through the middle of the 1990s. He continued to play with Marsalis's Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra beyond this. In 1994, he released his debut album on Atlantic Records; Eric Reed and Ben Wolfe were among those who played as sidemen. His 1998 album Live at the Village Vanguard featured Irvin Mayfield, Steve Kirby, Xavier Davis, and Jaz Sawyer.