MUSIC
On this page you can listen to all the tracks from my own recordings and from several other projects where I was a co-leader. You can also read reviews and liner notes for each CD, and purchase music (individual tracks or full CD) using the download/PayPal links. If you prefer physical product, CDs (except for the sampler) are available via USPS for $15, shipping included. You can send payment via Paypal (my email address--billanschell@mindspring.com) or check (2039 NE 105th St., Seattle, WA 98125)
The CDs are musically diverse and cover a period of 30 years, so I’ve made a sampler CD as a quick way for you to get a taste of each. The sampler includes two cuts from all six of my own CDs, and single cuts from my collaborative projects. It’s the first CD below.
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My complete discography is right here.
ANSCHELL SAMPLER
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IMPROBABLE SOLUTIONS
**** Downbeat
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"What's astonishing about this heady nine-song collection is how familiar the pianist sounds among electronics and how smoothly he blends traditional jazz instrumentation with disparate studio techniques… It takes equal parts courage and ingenuity to alter one's sound as much as he has on Improbable Solutions”
– Eric Olsen, Earshot Jazz
SHIFTING STANDARDS
(****1/2) "… when Anschell’s trio starts with a song that is already slow and wistful… what transpires is intense. They enter an atmosphere where nothing is certain except the truths of human emotion, and even those truths must be reaffirmed moment to moment, in order to prevail over silence.”
– Thomas Conrad, Stereophile
RUMBLER
**** Downbeat
"Anschell has brilliantly taken a musical snapshot of his forever forward-seeking compositional prowess and his evolving approach as a pianist."
– Paul Rauch, allaboutjazz.com
FIGMENTS
2011 Northwest Jazz Recording
of the Year
– Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Awards
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"Anschell stretches and bends the familiar melodies to near-breaking point, in turns ruminative, playful, dark, and sparkling… Figments: Bill Anschell alone and letting go, taking a risk that pays off nicely."
– Dan McClenaghan, allaboutjazz.com
MORE TO THE EAR THAN MEETS THE EYE
"Anschell steps out as leader on a set that showcases his penchant for forthright lyrical beauty and spontaneous chance-taking that always hits the mark.”
— Dan McClenaghan, allaboutjazz.com
WHEN COOLER HEADS PREVAIL
"Cooler Heads is a superb document – forward-leaning both harmonically and rhythmically, with a clear reverence for the past.”
– James Rozzi, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A DIFFERENT NOTE ALL TOGETHER
One of the "10 Best" jazz CDs of 1998
– United Press International (UPI)
"Bill Anschell's virtuosity demands that you perk up and listen."
– Jazz Review
Collaborations
WE COULDN'T AGREE MORE
BLUEPRINTS
CALCULATED GESTURES