RUSS ANIXTER’S BIG BAND ORIGINS

Since my teenage years I’ve been divided by my music interests, and the Hippie Big Band has allowed me to find my voice combining all of my musical experiences.

I grew up in San Francisco during the 1960s, and was attracted to bands like the Grateful Dead, Santana, and other bands that incorporated improvisation and blues into their music. I didn’t understand the improvisation at that time, but I know I liked something about it. At the same time I was learning to play trombone, and finding myself drawn to jazz. Big Bands in particular. In college, and after graduating, I played trombone in big bands in the San Francisco Bay Area, listened to a lot of jazz, but still had that love for rock music that included elements of improvisation. It wasn’t until much later that I’d heard that Miles Davis once described the Grateful Dead as a jazz band that plays rock.

Graduate school at the Manhattan School had me studying jazz composition and arranging with the great Manny Album. I started writing traditional and contemporary big band music, and on a lark I did an arrangement of a Jimi Hendrix song for a big band.  Something about that spoke to me, and with encouragement I arranged several Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin songs for big band. The arrangements were performed in concert and in New York clubs to some acclaim; however, at that point I got very busy as a music copyist in New York City. I eventually opened my own music copying office preparing music at a very high level. While I did manage to compose a few things over the next few years, my own writing projects pretty much became less of a priority.

When my son was born, I was pushing his stroller past a music store on Bleecker Street, and on a whim bought an electric bass. Before too long I found myself playing bass in a Grateful Dead tribute band, and a Jimi Hendrix type trio. When I was practicing bass along with my iTunes library, my then 4-year-old son asked me why we had to listen to “Hippie music” all the time. Now that son is 18 years-old with really long hair, and he owns more tie dyed t-shirts than I do.

Being a music copyist in New York for over thirty years has afforded me the opportunity to meet some of the best musicians in the world. Somehow I earned their respect, and am honored to be treated by them as a peer. Two of them in particular asked me when I was going to start writing music again, and if I wrote something, they would come play it for me. With that motivation I picked my dream instrumentation, wrote nine arrangements including a Grateful Dead tune and other pieces that had meaning to me. I called my friends, and they came down to the rehearsal room at the musicians union to play my new arrangements. It was a gas! Afterwards they each came up to me separately to tell me how they enjoyed the music, and if I continued they wanted to be a part of it. I was more than motivated!

Our second rehearsal I had a substitute drummer known for his sage comments. During the rehearsal he made a comment about how fun it was, and it was like “Hippie music for big band!” That was a lightbulb moment! Remembering my son’s comment, a concept and band name was born.

That was in early 2019, a bunch of years and a pandemic later, The Hippie Big Band is still at it, and better than ever. We made 5 stay-at-home videos during the pandemic, and I wrote thirty more arrangements while sequestering. We now have over 50 exciting and eclectic arrangements to perform, and we’ve given joy and thrills to audiences in clubs throughout Manhattan. Our videos on YouTube have found audiences the world over.

Our library includes my arrangements of music by Miles Davis, Weather Report, The Grateful Dead, Little Feat, The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, Curtis Mayfield, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Dr. John, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea, Tower of Power, The Beatles, The Jefferson Airplane, Van Morrison, and the list keeps growing. I did an arrangement of War Pigs by Black Sabbath on a dare, and it’s become a crowd favorite.

Of the original 10 musicians that came to play for me 7 of them are still playing in the band, and have since added a multi-percussion player to further create our own unique sound. The band is full of fantastic soloists, and I am so proud of the whole band.