Andrea Wolper | Parallel Lives

Andrea Wolper: vocals, compositions (2, 6, 11), rainstick on Blue Wind | Michael Howell: guitar | Kris Davis: piano | Ken Filiano: bass | Michael TA Thompson: soundrhythium

Produced by Todd Barkan and Andrea Wolper. Release date 2011. Recorded by Katherine Miller at Avatar Studios, New York Mastering by Jim Clouse, Park West Studios, Brooklyn. Andrea Wolper, rain stick on “Blue Wind”. Arrangements by Andrea Wolper except #2 and #5: arrangements by [Andrea Wolper & Ken Filiano. Photos of Andrea by Michael Keel. Package design by Stuart Alden, Idaho Stew.

Tracklist: 1. Song to a Seagull (Joni Mitchell) 2. The Girls in Their Dresses (Andrea Wolper) 3. Why Aren’t You Laughing? (Bob Casanova) 4. Skylark (Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer) 5. Who Will Buy? (Lionel Bart) 6. June Rose (Andrea Wolper) lyrics 7. Maple Sugar Boy (Buffy Sainte-Marie) 8. Blue Wind (Steven Sater, Duncan Sheik) 9. Be Cool (Joni Mitchell) 10. Something Good (Richard Rodgers) 11. Waiting For Winter (Andrea Wolper) 12. Save Your Love For Me (Buddy Johnson)

andrea wolper | parallel lives | jazzed media

This album smartly illustrates the vastness of talent lying within. . . an inventive, thrilling, appealing musical vision. (Blogcritics)

Refusing, in utterly refreshing ways, to follow each song’s furrowed emotional path, she instead opens them up for wider examination, demonstrating that for each yin there is a yang. (JazzTimes)

Andrea Wolper’s standout set is a disc everyone should hear. . . This one’s a winner; don’t let it pass you by! (GoodSounds.com)

utterly original. . . breathtaking. . . delicious (All About Jazz)

JUNE ROSE

words & music by Andrea Wolper

June Rose
Rambling like those hazy days
Into fragrant summer nights
I recall a certain garden of delights
Who knows
Why I’ll spend a lazy day
Just watching roses climb
Well, the perfume sends me reeling back in time
And I’m there again
‘Neath those pale June skies
Watching the grass grow
I know it’s cliché
But the scent of roses hypnotizes
I’m with you once more
On that one perfect day
Time goes by so fast
Nothing lasts
But memories, I suppose
But with memories so real
I can feel you here
June Rose

andrea wolper | parallel lives | jazzed media

WAITING FOR WINTER

words & music by Andrea Wolper

Waiting for Winter
Waiting for the snow and the rain
I’m waiting for winter
For maybe I’ll see you again
Watching the sunrise
Wond’rin’ how to make it through a day
Remembering the firelight in your eyes
Last winter, before love slipped away
Now summer nights leave me feeling lonely
Mornings in autumn, make me restless and blue
I’ve set my sights on just this one thing only
And I’m praying, my wish will come true, and I’ll be with you
Waiting for Winter
Come wintertime, I know where I’ll be
Waiting for Winter
Please tell me you’re still waiting there for me.

Kris Davis

In 2010, The New York Times said, “Over the last couple of years in New York one method for deciding where to hear jazz on a given night has been to track down the pianist Kris Davis.” In addition to her efforts as a bandleader, Canadian Kris Davis has performed with John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, Theo Bleckmann, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey, Ron Horton, Ingrid Jensen, Steve Swell, Andrea Wolper, Sara Serpa, Peter Herbert and Chris Speed. She has several releases as leader or co-leader on the Clean Feed and Fresh Sound labels. She performs regularly as a sideman for numerous up-and-coming leaders, such as Jon Irabagon and Tony Barba, and plays harmonium in the Brooklyn Qawwali Party. Davis teaches at the Maine Jazz Camp and the Preparatory Jazz studies program at Queens College.

Michael K. Howell

Originally from Kansas City, MO, Michael Howell was inspired and taught by his father and by noted KC guitarist Herley Dennis. Michael has performed and recorded with his own group, as well as with a stellar list of musicians that includes Bobby Hutchenson, Hampton Hawes, Art Blakey, Gene Ammons, Woody Show, and George Duke. He recorded three solo albums, “Alone” on Catalyst Records, and “Looking Glass” and “In The Silence” on Mile Stone Records. He has toured with the Boys’ Choir of Harlem, and for five years toured with Dizzy Gillespie. He performed as a special guest at the Monterey Jazz Festival Guitar Summit which also included guitarist Joe Pass, Mondell Lowe, Jim Hall, and Lee Riteniur. Michael has performed on a number of television shows including the PBS show, “From Jump Street: The Story of Black Music,” hosted by Oscar Brown, Jr. Michael has taught at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Lucy Moses School for Music, and at the JazzMobile Workshop (1990 – present).

Ken Filiano

Native New Yorker Ken Filiano is one of the most versatile and in-demand bassists working today. Credits in jazz, improvised music, classical music, tango, and interdisciplinary performance include performance and/or recording with Steve Adams, Anthony Braxton, Bobby Bradford, Nels Cline, Connie Crothers, Bill Dixon, Ted Dunbar, Giora Feidman, Vinny Golia, Frank London, Tina Marsh, Dom Minasi, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Roswell Rudd, Fay Victor, Pablo Zeigler, and many more. His extensive discography includes his solo bass CD, “subvenire” (Nine Winds) and “Dreams From a Clown Car” (Clean Feed), which presents his compositions for his quartet, Quantum Entanglements, with Tony Malaby, Michael Attias, and Michael T.A. Thompson. Ken teaches double bass and improvisation, and is on the faculty at Mansfield University.

Michael TA Thompson

Hailing from St. Thomas, Michael T.A. Thompson calls his work “soundrhythium”; much more than a drummer, Michael plays as he breathes, hearing everything and playing in a way that’s ever inventive and responsive. Michael has performed and recorded with a wide variety of artists including Joe McPhee, Oliver Lake, Kid Jordan, Matthew Shipp, Roy Campbell, Jr., Uri Caine, Barbara Sfraga, Marc Ribot, William Parker, Sherry Winston, the legendary Clypsonians, The Mighty Sparrow, The Shadow, Beckett, reggae artist Owen Gray, and artists from classical to rap and beyond. Thompson produces New York-based artists who are pushing the musical envelope and making an impact on today’s jazz performance scene. He has recorded for television shows such as “Blue’s Clues” (Nickelodeon), and for commercials and film scores.

andrea wolper | parallel lives | jazzed media

I live somewhat “parallel lives”

as a singer in that my musical interests are wide-ranging. Like so many other jazz singers, I started with standards, the best kind of training play/ ground, which I love like old friends who can still surprise me. But through the years, doing all sorts of gigs, living in New York, where there’s so much music to hear and so many people to play with, I came to realize there was no reason not to widen my embrace to include all sorts of music: music that plays it straight, music that doesn’t, songs I’d heard as a child, songs I discovered I had it in me to write, songs that didn’t seem to fit in any particular category. The selections on this CD traverse some of the now-parallel, now-converging paths I’ve been traveling these past several years, reflecting the idea that we all live dual (or more) lives, if only in our dreams, our hopes, our memories.

As everyone knows, having the right traveling companions is crucial. And as every musician knows, there’s nothing like playing with your band, people with whom you develop understanding and trust. When you have that, you’re lucky. I’m lucky. Not only do Ken, Kris, Michael, and TA have the musicianship and the curiosity to travel with me wherever I feel like going, but each has a highly developed, very personal musical identity that means I get to travel down some unexpected byways. And that makes working with them a joy and an adventure. Andrea Wolper

andrea wolper | parallel lives | jazzed media

 

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