Andrea Brachfeld

Andrea Brachfeld was brought up in a household where it was mandatory to take the piano. She studied it for seven years starting at age six. At age 10 she found out that you could take the flute in school and get out of class; so the flute it was! She entered the High School of Music and Art in 1969, majoring in the flute. There she met and played with, Noel Pointer, Nat Adderly Jr., Dave Valentín, Earl Macintyre, Buddy Williams, among many other fantastic musicians. Noel was instrumental (no pun intended) in teaching her how to write music down. She had a term paper she had to do for a Bible class and she waited until the last minute to do it. Finally she chose an excerpt from the Rose of Sharon, and wrote music to the spoken word. Noel played the violin, Andrea Brachfeld played the flute, and Michael Klein (now a renowned poet) played the piano and recited the text. The teacher liked it so much that they performed it on one of the first cable TV channels as a plug to save the funding for Music and Art, as they wanted to do away with the program and the school.

Andrea Brachfeld first gig

Andrea Brachfeld first jazz gig was at age 16 when she got a quartet together, wrote her own music, and played at “All Night Soul” at St. Peter’s Church, thanks to Reverend Gensel. From that point on improvisation became a way of life for her. At that time Jazzmobile had workshops every Saturday morning where jazz greats Jimmy Heath, Billy Taylor, among many others, gave their time to teach young people how to play jazz. She was blessed to have Jimmy Heath as the flute teacher. He was not only a teacher of music but also taught her many things about life. She also went to the Jazz Interactions workshop, an organization run by Joe and Rigmor Newman at the time. There she met Yusef Lateef and Barry Harris. Barry always said that if you can’t carry your instrument you shouldn’t be playing it. Yusef was the flute teacher and he turned us on to many different types of music including Eastern music.

Andrea Brachfeld award

In 1974, Andrea Brachfeld was awarded the Louis Armstrong Award for outstanding Jazz student from Jazz Interactions. It came as a complete surprise! Along with the award came a $500 scholarship to the college of her choice, and $1000 if she attended the Berklee School of Music. She chose to go to the Manhattan School of Music as she wanted to learn how to play the flute well before she learned a specific style of music and at the time there were no flute teachers at Berklee. So, in 1973 Andrea Brachfeld went to the Manhattan School of Music. There she studied with Harold Bennett and Andrew Loyla. She also took lessons from Hubert Laws, Sam Barron, Eddie Daniels, and George Coleman. Manhattan didn’t have an extensive Jazz program at the time, but there were two ensembles. The first was led by Dave Friedman and the second by Valerie and Bobby Capers. Dave’s class was really laid back and she learned a lot. Valerie’s class was great too. She is a phenomenal teacher. Other people who were at Manhattan at the time included Kenny Kirkland, Fred Hersch, Angie Bofill, Noel Pointer, and Rodney Jones among many others.

At some point or another they all played with each other. It was an incredible time to be in New York. During her stay at Manhattan she got involved in playing Charanga music. She was at a club called the Tin Palace down on the Bowery and her friend Lloyd McNeil was playing there with his band. She sat in and Mauricio Smith was in the audience. He came up to me afterwards and asked if Andrea Brachfeld wanted to play in a Charanga band. Work was work so she said sure. That was the beginning of her Afro-Cuban musical influence.

Andrea Brachfeld worked with Tipica New York, The Benito Sextet, Charanga ’76, Tipica Ideal, Charanga America, Joe Quijano, Conjunto Libre, Joe Cuba and many other bands. She also sat in with Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Machito, and others. There was so much music happening in those days. Each club would hire at least three bands a night so they were able to check each other out. It was great!

While she was playing the Charanga gigs she also pursued her interest in jazz. Andrea Brachfeld have always managed to put together groups for gigs. She have had Frank and Jay Clayton, Charles Eubanks, Adam Nussbaum, Peter Fish, Jeff Andrews, Rob Schneiderman, Kenwood Dennard, Mark Helias, Frank Stagnitto, Tom Whaley, among others, as sidemen in her jazz groups.

In 1978 Andrea Brachfeld recorded her first LP called “Andrea” produced by Vicente Barreira, owner of the Casa Latina record store. She had some amazing musicians on the CD including Louis Bauzo, Barry Rogers, Johnny Almendra, Bobby Rodriguez among others. Jose Madera produced it and she believe it might have been the first Charanga CD to have trap drums played by Paul Kimbarrow. Louis also played batá.

After graduating Manhattan Andrea Brachfeld continued playing wherever she could. One day she got a call from this guy who spoke to me in Spanish. At the time she didn’t understand a lot or speak it so she wasn’t sure what he was saying. It ends up that he was offering her a gig to go to Venezuela. Andrea Brachfeld thought that was ok so she said yes. Little did she know a 4 week gig was to turn into a 2 1/2 year one! She signed a contract with him to play in a popular typical Venezuelan band for a year. After that she got a gig in a club called the “Juan Sebastien Bar” in Caracas playing jazz six nights a week. One thing led to another and eventually Andrea Brachfeld was doing jingles. Then she formed her first Latin Jazz band. During this whole time she had been writing music but she didn’t view myself as a composer. The band opened for a number of people including Gary Burton, Paco Lucia and lastly Chick Corea. By the last gig she was married and pregnant and ready to return home; which she did.

When Andrea Brachfeld got back she found that there wasn’t as much work as before and she realized that she wanted to devote more quality time to her family. So for 17 years she had some kind of musical group, but she always stayed local and low key so she could be there for her family. During this time she returned to graduate school where she earned my Masters and is currently certified in six different areas. Upon completion of her educational pursuits she decided to change focus and redirect all her energies toward her music. Andrea Brachfeld produced her own CD in 1998 after contacting many record companies. Her energy from that point on has been dedicated to marketing, promotion, composing, and playing ehr music.

Andrea Brachfeld signed with Spirit Nectar Records, a company out in San Francisco. The CD, “Remembered Dreams”, her first CD, was released in May of 2001. In 2003 she signed with Latin Cool Records and they released her 2nd CD, “Back With Sweet Passion” a Charanga Jazz CD. That CD features the creme of the creme in the Salsa field including Oscar Hernandez, leader of the worldwide acclaimed Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Alfredo de la Fe, virtuosic Charanga violinist, and Chembo Corniel, master percussionist, among many other great musicians. Then in 2006 she released a CD which she collaborated with Chembo Corniel called “Beyond Standards.” This CD features Hilton Ruiz, Steve Turre, and Pedrito Martinez. They recorded mostly standards with her own kind of twist. Sadly, this happens to be one of the last CD’s that Hilton recorded. Andrea Brachfeld 4th CD is “Into the World: A Musical Offering” which features Mike Longo, Paul West , and Brian Lynch. Andrea Brachfeld then recorded a meditation CD called, “Songs from the Divine” which is a solo CD with synthesizers.

In October of 2012 “Lady of the Island”, was released by ZOHO music featuring Wallace Roney, Wycliffe Gordon, and Bill O’Connell, longtime musical director for Dave Valentín. He also produced the record as well and wrote the arrangements.

Andrea Brachfeld has traveled to Cuba a number of times to perform at the Havana Jazz Festival and most recently traveled to Croatia to teach masterclasses about Jazz and to perform. She is also an integral part of the Wallace Roney,”Universe” Orchestra playing Wayne Shorter’s long lost music originally written for Miles Davis.

In September of 2015 she was awarded the “Best Jazz Flutist “ from Hot House Magazine. It came as a total surprise to her and she is very grateful to have received it!

“Lotus Blossom,” was released on Jazzheads in October of 2015 featuring Bill O’ Connell. Rufus Reid, Winard Harper, Wycliffe Gordon, Chembo Corniel, and Nancy Harms. The music is a combination of standards and original music.

She currently tours with her own group, Andrea Brachfeld and Insight featuring Bill O’ Connell, Harvie S and Jason Tiemann, the Wallace Roney “Universe” Orchestra and The Bill O’ Connell Quartet / Dave Valentin Tribute Band featuring Lincoln Goines and Robby Ameen where they recently came back from a tour in Japan playing at the Cotton Club. In June 2017, she was awarded a grant from the prestigious organization, Chamber Music America and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, to compose a new jazz work. Her new CD, “If Not Now, When? ” which will be released on Jazzheads in May of 2018, reflects this new music.

Upon closing Andrea Brachfeld would like to add that she has discovered that no matter what you are doing in your life, you have the ability to partake in the creative process. She was able to maintain my sanity and flow of the creative process cultivating and nurturing that idea during the time she was teaching full time. Everyday she feel blessed to be alive and to be able to play the flute, compose my music, and continue to grow in whatever direction Andrea Brachfeld is taken.