Mark Anderson

"You Can't Go Home Again" (excerpt)

Mark Anderson is Chairman of the Music Department and Director of the Music Technology Program at Foothill College.

Before developing the Music Technology Program, he served as Director of Jazz Studies at Foothill. He has also developed course materials and serves on the Advisory Committee for the Music Technology Program at Clackamas Community College in Portland, Oregon.

"uTopia"
©2007/mark anderson

Prior to joining the faculty at Foothill, he was Director of Jazz Studies at Fresno City College from 1987 - 1989, and Graduate Teaching Assistant in Jazz Studies at the University of Denver, Lamont School of Music from 1980-1983. After graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Education from Southern Oregon University in 1978, where he began the Jazz Combo Program while still a student, he taught instrumental and choral music in the Oregon public schools until 1980. After graduate school, he pursued a career as a full time professional musician and booking agent in Denver during the 80's, playing hundreds of recording sessions and performing nightly with many of the greatest musicians in the world until following the sun to California in 1987.

Mark's recognitions include a California Music Award for engineering and performing on "Adelante", the "World Beat Album of the Year" in 1996, and "Innovator of the Year" at Foothill-DeAnza in 1999. His compositions and arrangements for jazz ensemble are performed frequently at Universities, Colleges and Jazz Festivals throughout the United States, Japan and Europe. His Etudes for Trombone, published by Hal Leonard as part of Stylistic Etudes in The Jazz Idiom are used as audition material by the International Association of Jazz Educators.

Today, Mark performs far less frequently because of his commitment to the Music Department and Music Technology Program, but his interest in New Media has enabled him to compose and create multimedia works such as "uTopia" that integrate acoustic instruments, music technology, video, and his interest in the history of the 20th century, especially the Dust Bowl Migration and how it shaped modern day America.

Mark has worked with the following artists
Ray Charles
Cab Calloway

Billy Eckstine
Joe Williams
George Shearing
Randy Brecker
Chuck Mangione
Jack Sheldon
Jon Faddis
Clark Terry
Bobby Shew
Carl Fontana
Woody Herman

Louie Bellson
The Mills Brothers
James Moody
Branford Marsalis
Frank Wess
David Benoit
Chris Woods
Plas Johnson
Mel Torme'
Stanley Turrentine
Arturo Sandoval

Giovanni Hidalgo
Francisco Aguabella
Frank Mantooth
Dianne Schuur
Armando Peraza
Jimmy Buffet
Hank Ballard
The Temptations
John Denver
Burt Bacharach
Dionne Warwick
Lou Rawls
The Four Tops
Kenny Rankin
Michael Feinstein
Marvin Hamlisch
Johnny Otis
Buddy Greco
The Platters
Helen O'Connell
Mary Wilson
Philip Bailey
Papa John Creach
Glen Campbell
Tanya Tucker
Charlie Pride
Bob Hope
Debbie Reynolds
Rosemary Clooney
Andy Williams
Lainie Kazan
Connie Stevens
Eddie Fischer
Dinah Shore 
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