Tracks
- Light Out of Darkness 2. Dog Day Afternoon 3. Sobe e Desce 4. Still Life 5. The Music is the Magic 6. The Nature of Life 7. Been to Canaan 8. Nevermore 9. Eventide 10. I Burn For You 11. Cisluna 12. The Winter of Our Content
Performers
Andrea Wolper – vocals
Jeff Lederer – clarinet, flute
Charlie Burnham – violin
John Di Martino – piano
Ken Filiano – double bass
Michael T.A. Thompson – drums
Record Label: Moonflower Music
Recorded March 12-13, 2023
Release Date: April 12, 2024
Andrea Wolper grew up in San Carlos, California, and attended the University of California. In her junior year, she moved to New York City, where she attended the Neighborhood Playhouse Theatre School. She began writing articles for Back Stage and later for other publications, including The Sun, On the Issues, and New York Woman. Her articles focused primarily on the performing arts and human rights. She also wrote The Actor’s City Sourcebook: A Comparative Guide to America’s Best Places to Work and Live as a Performing Artist (Back Stage Books) and co-edited, with Julie S. Peters, Women’s Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives (Routledge), the first international collection on women’s human rights.
She graduated with a degree in theory, structure, and social change. But she missed singing and found herself increasingly drawn to jazz. She began seriously studying singing, harmony, and jazz improvisation.
She has also appeared on recordings by other artists across all jazz genres, from the unassuming Heavenly Big Band to free jazz icon William Parker.
Among her favorite collaborators is bassist Ken Filiano, who is also her husband of 20 years.
Through it all, Wolper has maintained her lifelong interest in human rights. She remains an active member of Amnesty International, follows politics, and helps with election campaigns.
She has released her fourth album as a leader, titled “Wanderlust,” following “Parallel Lives” (2011), “The Small Hours” (2005), and her self-titled debut, “Andrea Wolper” (1998).
He’s joined in the rhythm section by John Di Martino (piano), Ken Filiano (double bass), and Michael TA Thompson (drums), with whom he has been playing for many years. He also includes Charlie Burnham (violin) and Jeff Lederer (clarinet and flute).
Twelve tracks, seven of which are Wolper originals, one of them with John Di Martino, Ken Filiano, and Michael TA Thompson. The other five are by artists as diverse as Carole King, Sting, Ray Charles, Wayne Carson, and Abbey Lincoln.
Filiano’s double bass opens “Light Out of Darkness” by Rick Ward and Ray Charles, introduced by the latter in 1965. Wolper shows us his potential and vocal positioning. Burnham’s violin solo is interesting.
This is followed by “Dog Day Afternoon,” a melody by country composer Wayne Carson, which Wolper brings to jazz territory. Burnham performs another beautiful violin solo.
Another Wolper original is “Sobe e Desce” (Portuguese for “up and down”). A wordless samba, Wolper hums the melody in dialogue with Lederer’s flute, just as Filiano and Thompson do at one point.
“Still Life” also bears Wolper’s signature, an intimate song that narrates a woman’s loneliness in the absence of the man she loved. A beautiful duet between Wolper and Di Martino.
The great Abbey Lincoln is represented with her composition entitled “The Music is the Magic.” Wolper remains faithful to the original theme.
Another original is “The Nature of Life,” written during the pandemic. With a Middle Eastern sound, Wolper slowly interprets this prayer-like theme. Wolper says, “There was a lot of political turmoil, and then the pandemic shutdown happened. If I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that everything changes: the good things, the bad things, everything. Remembering that helped me stay centered.” Thompson’s percussion and Burnham’s violin are instrumental in emphasizing the song’s mystical mood.
Carole King wrote “Been to Canaan,” which Wolper transforms into a jazz melody, with Lederer on flute.
Wolper composes the beautiful “Nevermore” (reminds me of Nature Boy), which he performs as a duet with the double bass. It has a dark and disturbing atmosphere.
Another Wolper original, “Eventide,” is a wordless song where the violin plays an important role, as does the double bass. Wolper began writing the song while taking an evening walk during a residency in Nebraska.
Sting’s “I Burn for You,” a beautiful song that conveys tension thanks to the double bass’s arc, the piano, and Wolper’s playing. One of the most interesting tracks on the album.
Towards the end of the album, we find “Cisluna,” a piece composed (improvised on the spot) by Andrea Wolper, John Di Martino, Ken Filiano, and Michael TA Thompson that breaks away from everything heard so far.
Wolper is a black belt in karate, but she’s also capable of composing and performing this beautiful and sweet “The Interlude of Our Content,” a song in the purest Great American Songbook style. A tribute to enduring love.
Wolper is a versatile performer, equally at home with a swinging melody, a love ballad, or a pure improvisation, as demonstrated in “Wanderlust,” a showcase of Andrea Wolper’s creative and adventurous spirit
La Habitación del Jazz