Musician, who has done a wide range of music for Australian films, including the new score for silent film The Sentimental Bloke.
Born into a musical family, Jen Anderson's father was a professional jazz musician before becoming an expert in medieval music. The children were all encouraged to learn an instrument and she chose the violin (with younger brother Jon Anderson taking up guitar). As a teenager she became disillusioned with the violin and subsequently took up bass, playing in a number of rock bands during the 1980s, notably Giant Steps. In 1989, barely six months after leaving her home town of Armidale (NSW), Anderson's talents were discovered by Joe Camilleri when he saw her playing in a duo at Sydney's Trade Union Club. Camilleri asked her to join his band The Black Sorrows and she shortly afterwards appeared on the band's hit LP Harley and Rose. With that band she toured throughout Australia and overseas, cementing her reputation as one of Australia's leading contemporary violinists. After recording Better Times (1992), Anderson left The Black Sorrows to join Weddings, Parties, Anything (1993-1998). She has since contributed to more than 40 recordings as a guest musicians, including works by Hunters and Collectors, The Revelators (with Joe Camilleri), Billy Baxter, Deborah Conway, Nick Cave, Renee Geyer, Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes, Nick Barker, and Sherry Rich and the Grievous Angels. She collaborated with Tim Shanasy om Silent Catalyst (1999), and in 2005 she released Jen Anderson : Music for Film and Television.
In 1993 Anderson was asked to compose live music for the black and white silent movie Pandora's Box starring Louise Brooks. Her critically acclaimed score led to a commission from the National Film and Sound Archive to write the music to accompany a reconstructed version of the original 1919 silent film The Sentimental Bloke for the Melbourne International Film Festival. She and her band, The Larrikins, provided a live soundtrack for the film's subsequent Australian tour. Since then Anderson has largely written for film and television. Her credits include : the ABC's Simone de Beauvoir's Babies, and 'Wee Jimmy' (from the Hybrid Life series) ; the Clara Law film Goddess of 1967 (2001) ; the short films Tale of the Paper Hearts (1998) and Helga: Adrift in Wonderland (2002) ; and the documentaries It's Like That (2003), Einstein's Wife : The Life of Mileva Einstein-Maric (2003), Hunt Angels (2006) and Vivian Bullwinkel (2007).
Australian Writing and Rock Music affiliation: songwriter, producer, bass, piano, miscellaneous instruments (violin).
