Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Anderson.
Hi Jason, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m from Salt Lake City originally, and I came back 3 years ago after living in New York 30 years, so I still say I’m from New York. I went to Skyline high school and was very active in all the music stuff. I started teaching lessons at a music store and at student’s homes when I was 13, so I kept studying and practicing. I attended the U of U and throughout those years I was teaching lessons full time at a big music store and playing in bands every weekend. I was also having lessons from world-class drummers that would come through town giving clinics at the store I worked at, and they were always very encouraging. Well, one of them started recommending me for gigs in New York, and one miraculously worked out, (where I auditioned over the phone…), for the Big Apple Circus, and we took it. (Ran away with the circus, literally). We had 3 kids at the time and my wife was pregnant with our 4th. I sold a bunch of gear to pay for the plane ticket and left on our anniversary. The circus band rehearsed in NYC, (at Joan Jett’s studio) for 8 hours then went on the road for 4 weeks. I had a week off where I flew home and we drove our big truck out to Mamaroneck, NY, where we lived the next 30 years. I toured with the circus, played in several NYC bands, studios, and theater shows. Our 5th child came along, then we lost her, and then I found a Masters program at Purchase College, State University of NY, where I got a MA in Jazz Performance and was able to study with many of the top players in the world. I started playing with those teachers in their bands, played on their albums, and eventually was led to taking a band teacher position at a middle school in the Bronx. This was the hardest thing I’d ever done but the timing was miraculous because the Tuesday after school started was September 11, 2001. So, when my musician friends were out of work, I had a teaching job. Our family kept growing; I got another Masters in music education from the City University of New York, and I went to another middle school in New Rochelle, NY, where I stayed for 20 years and loved it. During these years we had two more kids, my wife finished her BA then a MS in Early childhood education and worked as a preschool teacher, and I continued to play with my own bands, theater productions, weddings, big bands, . . . a great variety of music any chance I could get. I also did a lot of bicycling. Then, in 2022, after a big financial upset, our son who was living in California at the time suggested we get out of NY and come live with him in his big new house and start over. So, I took an early retirement from New Rochelle and went to stay with him and our daughter in Fresno. The best thing out of this time (other than time with my kids and meeting a lot of great people), was my vision of the U r kul. Foundation, which we started when I came back to Salt Lake. It’s a foundation for mental health and has huge potential. (See Urkul.org). This Fresno time lasted just 8 months and my wife took a job here in Sugarhouse, as the Director of Wasatch Presbyterian Preschool, so I came back here to begin again. I got a practice room in the building where the preschool is and began practicing all day and teaching some private lessons. This led to meeting other musicians in a band called Vinyl 73. And then came more bands, more private students, . . . and now, 3 years later, I am back to teaching music at a charter school, teaching private lessons every afternoon, and juggling several bands of different kinds. Crazy busy. Not much bike riding time or grandparent time, but we do what we can.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Well, the big challenge for me was/is becoming what I feel I’m not, or not ready for yet, and figuring out how to apply what I know in different ways. Many times I’ve had to re-invent myself, and I’m having to do it again now. I think it’s cool to become good at something you weren’t, or didn’t think you could do, like being a band teacher when you’re really a player. Perhaps the “smoothest” time was in New York, after I had acclimated to band teaching life, and I never thought I could be such a thing. I became comfortable passing on not just a love of music, but my knowledge of bands from a long and diverse background playing in so many bands and shows n’ stuff. My wife was teaching preschool, I was playing with bands a lot, bike riding a lot… lotsa good stuff. But raising a family is HARD. Every 4-5 years someone in our family had some major accident that wiped us out. These events would put us way behind, and before we could climb out of it, another would happen that would put us back worse than before. Then this last one . . . 10 years ago now . . . really pulled the rug out from under us worse than anything. Losing jobs, losing a child, losing opportunities I wanted; starting over and using your skills and experience in different ways- ya, it’s tough. It’s improvising, really; it’s what jazz players call “playing over the changes.” It’s a recurring theme for many of us. The real skill, to me, is learning to adapt and become stronger and to suffer and not complain. Our friend Vinnie VanGogh said this principle “es la grand science; la solution du la probleme de la vie.” Anyone that can raise a family, and absorb all the surprises that come with it, are truly heroes to me.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a jazz drummer. I’m a working musician who loves teaching, (not the other way around). I specialize in bands of all kinds, so I’m a music teacher from the perspective of playing gigs, and I’ve found I’m a great teacher when I have great students. I’m most proud of being able to say my wife and I are still together and we, (or she has . . . ) raised our family on me being a musician-teacher-guy. I’m proud of my experiences, and the ones I’m having now, though they don’t add up to much in terms of fame or fortune. What am I known for? Well, hopefully something good, someday, maybe. Hopefully I’m known as a very versatile drummer who is a musician, and who is fun to play or study with. What sets me apart is my diverse experience as a player and as a teacher. I’ve taught students of about every age and ability level; I’ve taught as a school music teacher in very difficult situations and made the music programs work and thrive; I’ve worked in different schools here and in New York so I have the perspective of the culture and administrations I’ve worked with; and I have played in so many musical settings that there’s very few circumstances where I can’t say I haven’t done that somewhere before. Maybe I’m a specialist in wanting more and doing better in every situation I’m in. I mean, I’ve played in jazz trios with some great New York players, but can I make this gig I’m playing here, tonight, sound just as good? Or, sure I’ve had great classroom experiences before, but can I make this class just as good, or better? Can I make this band or class something that the other musicians or students love to be in and can’t wait to get back to? That’s my ambition.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Oh yes, I have many who have played a big “roll…” (dats a drummer joke right dere…). My biggest supporter has been my wife, (whether rolling her eyes or not . . . ). She understands how I’ve persisted when I was told I couldn’t. My in-laws have been very supportive. My mentors include a teacher here, Steve Gustaveson, many years ago; my Jr.High and HS band teachers; my my drummer-hero friend Joel Rosenblatt who recommended me to everything in New York; my teacher and dear friend Doug Munro, the jazz department head at Purchase College who I played and recorded with for a good decade or two; and others like Rob Freeberg – the band teacher at New Rochelle HS who led a band I played in for years and led me to my teaching career; Bill Evans and Domenic Guastaferro in the New Rochelle district who treated me like I was a celebrity; to many friends and leaders in the church in New York who helped us through every challenge. Now, the teachers I work with here are so great and inspiring, and all the musicians I’m currently working with really inspire me. The private students too. I think the best musicians are always learning from everyone, and I love it when we’re all learning together.
Pricing:
- Private lessons: $75/hour.
- my Ice-9 jazz-fusion quartet: $1000 and so worth it!
- The Gina Marie Osmond Band: $2000, basically, and well worth it!
- classic rock bands, trios, country bands … $1000. All extremely good.
- The Jason A. U r kul. Big Band: $5000 and a great time will be had by all, and for a higher and much needed cause
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Urkul.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jason.anderson.331061/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-anderson-98856740/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jbanderson2112
