Anderson to open new jazz series at Southern

• By ROBIN MILLER
• Arts writer
• Published: Jul 5, 2009

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Let everyone else complain; Wess Anderson doesn’t mind the heat.

And he’s especially looking forward to the 90 degree-plus temperatures Friday, July 10, when he plays his saxophone on the bluff.

That’ll be the first concert in the Southern University’s new summer outdoor concert series, Classical Jazz Concerts on the Bluff.

And hey, mention of the temperature isn’t meant to be a deterrent. It’s just a fact. It’s summer in Louisiana, after all, so why not cool off with some cool jazz?

Besides, it’s cold in East Lansing, Mich. Way too cold.

“So, I’m loving the weather here,” Anderson said. “My wife called from Michigan the other day and said, ‘It’s a cool 77 here.’ I told her, ‘Well, you need to get to the 90 degree weather here.’”

Anderson’s serious. He loves Louisiana’s weather and loves the Baton Rouge community even more. Which are only two reasons why he kept his house in Baton Rouge when taking a job as an associate professor of jazz studies at Michigan State University.

His son Quad graduated high school in East Lansing, even played trombone in and around the city. And he’ll be bringing his trombone to Baton Rouge in the fall to play in the Southern University Jazz Institute.

“So, I’m making sure everything in the house is ready for him,” Anderson said. “This is going to be perfect for him. He won’t have to stay in the dorm, he’ll have his own bedroom and kitchen. All he’ll have to do is keep up his grades.”

And practice.

“Yeah, practice,” Anderson said. “He said he wanted to go into music, and I said, ‘Hey, that’s OK. Now all you’ll have to do is practice.’”

Quad, by the way, is Wessell Anderson IV. Anderson is the third in line.

“So, we call him Quad,” Anderson said. “That’s how we know who’s speaking to whom around our house.”