​Multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator Anthony Braxton was born in Chicago on this date in 1945.  Growing up on the south side, Braxton attended Chicago Vocational High School where he was intrigued by drafting class and showed great interest in electronics. He joined the U.S. military in 1963 and was assigned to the 5th Army band stationed at Highland Park, Illinois. After some time playing with an army band in South Korea, Braxton returned to Chicago and studied composition and philosophy at Roosevelt University.

Around the time he was studying at Roosevelt University, Anthony was introduced to the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a group whose charter proclaims is "to nurturing, performing, and recording serious, original music." Soon he was performing with the group.

In 1969 Braxton released the solo album “For Alto” which received great critical acclaim but had poor sales.  Uncertain he could make a living as a musician, Anthony played chess for money for a time, but in 1970 joined Chick Corea’s group Circle, and has performed with small groups ever since.  Braxton has published several volumes on music composition and taught music at Mills College from 1985-1990 and then at Wesleyan University between 1990 and 2013.  He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1994 and was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2014.

Here is a link to Anthony Braxton at the 1975 Montreux Jazz Festival playing his composition 23E:

"23E"