Alan Ferber
Trombone
51 age
January 18, 1975 Birthday
Oakland, California, U.S. Birthplace
www.alanferber.com Website
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Shows
About
Alan Ferber is a three-time Grammy-nominated jazz trombonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader based in New York City. He has released nine albums as a leader, including March Sublime and Jigsaw with his big band and Up High, Down Low with his nonet, all on Sunnyside Records. As a sideman, Ferber has appeared on over 150 recordings with artists ranging from Esperanza Spalding and the Dr. Lonnie Smith Octet to The National, Peter Gabriel, and Sufjan Stevens. Down Beat named him the top Rising Star Trombonist in its 2022 International Critics' Poll. Ferber serves as Associate Director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop and has been an adjunct professor of jazz studies at NYU's Steinhardt School since 2011.
Trivia
Ferber graduated from UCLA with a degree in economics in 1997 before pursuing music full-time. His wife, Jody Redhage Ferber, is a cellist and composer who has performed with Esperanza Spalding's Chamber Music Society and Ron Carter; the couple has collaborated in the trio Confluence alongside Mark Ferber, blending jazz improvisation with Bach. Ferber has also composed music for the video game Valorant and arranged Bjork's "Hyperballad" for Bang On A Can's Asphalt Orchestra.
Early Life
Alan Ferber was born on January 18, 1975, in Oakland, California, and grew up in a musical family. His grandmother was a Broadway actress and singer who introduced him and his twin brother, drummer Mark Ferber, to jazz and show tunes as children. He began playing piano at age four and switched to trombone at ten. During high school, he became deeply interested in jazz, and he and Mark would regularly host jam sessions at their home. Ferber attended UCLA, where he played in the jazz band but ultimately earned a degree in economics in 1997. He performed professionally in Los Angeles for several years — working with Les Brown, Gerald Wilson, and Louie Bellson — before moving to New York City in 1999, where he quickly established himself as a versatile ensemble player.
Alan Ferber Solos
1998
Trombone solo - Stablemates - 1998
4/4 swing in D♭ major at 229 BPM
Trombone solo - Eastbound - 1998
4/4 swing in C minor at 161 BPM
Trombone solo - Latham's Lament - 1998
4/4 latin in B♭ minor at 145 BPM
Trombone solo - Free Radicals - 1998
4/4 swing in F minor at 227 BPM
Trombone solo - Human Being, Being Human - 1998
4/4 swing in F major at 269 BPM