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Andréa Wood

Andréa Wood is living proof that music was meant to evolve. As a vocalist, she has been praised by JazzTimes Magazine for her “astonishing vocal range effective in conveying the emotions of a song.” As a composer and arranger, she mines even deeper ore with a signature sound that is at once cerebral and accessible. On all fronts, she draws on jazz, soul, and Brazilian influences, balancing innovative songwriting with respect for the standards through which she learned her craft.

Born and raised in the heart of Washington, D.C., where she attended the prestigious Duke Ellington School of Arts, she grew up in a musical household. Learning piano from her mother starting at age 5, she developed a love for soul and R&B singers. Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, and a host of classical composers were among her early favorites. It was while studying classical voice in high school, in fact, that an astute jazz teacher took her under his wing, thus opening a whole new world. Classical training, she recalls, required her to be in character, but in jazz she could put her own spin on things. She welcomed the greats like Miles Davis and Bill Evans, but also gravitated toward immortal balladeers Shirley Horn, Sarah Vaughan, and, later on, Betty Carter. Spending too much time, however, cataloging influences may leave you with little to go on: Andréa is her own singer, through and through.

Andréa and her band perform regularly in and around New York City. They have played at some of the country’s premier venues, including The Kitano, The Iridium, and the historic Town Hall in NYC; the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, and Constitution Hall in D.C.; and as far afield as Mumbai, India. She released her debut album, Dhyana, in 2011 to rave reviews and international acclaim, and has been featured in festivals across the U.S., including the Detroit Jazz Fest, the Clifford Brown and Rehoboth Jazz Fests in Delaware, and the Intersections American Arts Festival in her hometown of D.C. In 2013, she and her band spent four months in Mumbai serving as inaugural faculty at the True School of Music. While there, she toured the country alongside the Renee Rosnes Quartet as part of the Jus’ Jazz Festival, culminating in a performance at Mumbai’s National Centre for the Performing Arts. Since completing her Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music in 2013, Andréa continues to pour all of this passion into her teaching as she works toward her Master’s degree in Music Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

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5
Album Review

Andréa Wood: Kaleidoscope

Read "Kaleidoscope" reviewed by Geannine Reid


Andréa Wood presents her second album as a leader with, Kaleidoscope. Devotees and newcomers alike should feel equally welcome when listening to Kaleidoscope. Wood has done an excellent job of compiling a twelve song program that is accessible in the deep history of jazz along with her well-crafted originals. The discerning aficionado will find Wood's vocal control and sense of rhythm deeply studied in the tradition, while the neophyte with easily relate to Wood's strong sense of groove and story ...

178
Album Review

Andrea Wood: dhyana

Read "dhyana" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Washington D.C. native Andrea Wood has assimilated the area's disparate musical styles. Properly trained, Wood exerts impressive creative control over her material, one that is not afraid to take chances. Her alto is both powerful and pliable, capable of Betty Carter-like flights of fancy, and dhyana is a collision of every tradition between here and the Old World. But from this multicultural miasma rises the Rodgers and Hart standard “My Favorite Things," presented in a way that ...

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“The Duke Ellington School of the Arts graduate moves fearlessly up and down octaves, all the while maintaining a distinct sense of purpose. She can explore the upper register in a beguiling waft, or plunge into the basement with buoyant, swelling articulation.” -CapitalBop

“Wood’s moderate vibrato at the end of each line and astonishing vocal range inject her phrasing with a dramatic effect, quite effective in coveying the emotions of a song.” -JazzTimes

“At her core is a certain poised softness that elevates her to glide over the material, without ever losing contact with it.” -Washington City Paper

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Primary Instrument

Vocals

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Kaleidoscope

Biophilia Records
2015

buy

dhyana

Self Produced
2011

buy

For The Meantime

From: dhyana
By Andréa Wood

Videos

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