On the Floor – Anthony Braxton Trio at Big Ears Festival

A group that currently features vocalist Kyoko KItamura and cornet player Taylor Ho Bynum, the Anthony Braxton Trio is anchored by its namesake. However, despite his vaunted status in the jazz world, Anthony Braxton doesn’t consider himself to be a jazz musician. Taking as much influence from John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen as he does from John Coltrane, Braxton has consistently forged his own path, one that is both heavily theoretical and occasionally controversial, at least amongst jazz purists. A native of Chicago, it was there that he began playing during the ’50s and ’60s, though he would eventually go on to live in Paris, New York and a multitude of other cities throughout his career. At one point, he was part of a short-lived avant garde quartet called Circle with Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Barry Altschul, and even after Corea broke up the group, Braxton continued to play with the latter two throughout much of the ’70s.