Andrea Wolper
Jazz Singer, Improviser, Songwriter, Teacher, Music Lover, Rabble Rouser
About Me
Described as both “utterly original” and “a singer with an uncanny emotional touch for the past 50
years of jazz,” Andrea Wolper, “brings songs to life, whatever their source, working in a milieu that
begins with jazz and reaches out to embrace an expressive area that is uniquely her own.”*
Andrea appears in clubs, festivals, and concert spaces in the U.S. and abroad. Performance credits as
a leader in her New York home base include the Blue Note, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (Jazz at Lincoln
Center), Mezzrow, JVC New York Jazz Festival, Kitano, Arts for Arts Evolving Series, and more, and she
has toured across the U.S., in Europe, and beyond. Working frequently as both leader and side-
person, Andrea is “an audacious artist [who] flouts genre limitations, singing songs for the love of it
and delivering an inventive, thrilling, appealing musical vision.”
One of the “great jazz singers” included in “The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide” (Yannow,
BackBeat Books), Andrea is as accomplished with the Great American Songbook as she is with more
unusual repertoire and spontaneous improvisation. Andrea has also made her mark as a songwriter;
Cadence magazine calls her “easily superior to the ever expanding population in the
singer/songwriter category,” and she has been awarded composing fellowships by Helene Wurlitzer
Foundation, Ucross Foundation, Newnan ArtRez, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, and Uncool
Residency.
Andrea’s third CD, “Parallel Lives” (Jazzed Media) received rave reviews, and was included on several
Top Jazz CDs and Notable Releases lists for 2011. Co-produced by Todd Barkan, it features her
group with guitarist Michael Howell, pianist Kris Davis, bassist Ken Filiano, and drummer Michael
T.A. Thompson. Her previous release, “The Small Hours” (VarisOne.Jazz), built around her trio with
guitarist Ron Affif and Ken Filiano, was produced by Barkan, and features drummers Victor Lewis
and Jamey Haddad, as well as guest artists Lou Marini (flute) and Frank London (trumpet and
flugelhorn).
Andrea also appears as a side person across jazz genres, from holding the vocal chair with the
straight ahead Heavenly Big Band to appearing in several performance and recording projects of
free jazz bassist William Parker (”Voices Fall From the Sky” and “Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World”). In addition, she was one
third of the improvising trio TranceFormation, with Filiano and the late pianist Connie Crothers; the trio's live CD,
”TranceFormation in Concert” (New Artists) was a best vocal CD selection in the 2012 Downbeat
critics' polls.
Andrea curated the “Why Not Experiment?” series at Whynot Jazz Room in New York city for nearly
two years (2014-15). She is a past President of International Women in Jazz, and served on the
Advisory Board of the Jazz Vocal Coalition.
Andrea offers singing lessons in her private studio, and conducts clinics in jazz vocal performance,
and workshops and master classes on performance and improvisation, at California Jazz Conservatory online and elsewhere.
Andrea is an accomplished writer whose journalism and poetry have appeared in
numerous publications. Among her works are two books, “Women's Rights, Human Rights:
International Feminist Perspectives” (with Julie S. Peters; Routledge) and “The Actor's City
Sourcebook” (Watson-Guptill). In addition, she's spent time on the stage, and came to New York
from her native California to attend the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.
She earned a black belt in Shotokan Karate, and has two dust-gathering trophies to tell the tale.
* Quotes: Loudon, AllAboutJazz / Graham, Tucson Citizen / Richardson, Blog Critics / Bargebuhr,
Cadence
