Andrea has it all: a great voice and rhythmic sense, musical chops, warmth, intellect, and wit.
-Suzanne Pittson, jazz vocalist, Assistant Professor, Jazz Vocal Studies CCNY
Brains and beauty, a luscious voice, a terrific sense of humor and unerring musical taste; Andrea Claburn reminds me of the classic jazz singers who had it all too.
-Maye Cavallaro, jazz vocalist and producer
Smart, sexy and sophisticated... Andrea has a wide range of emotion - hip, mellifluous, and always in the moment - as well as a uniquely controlled vibrato to rival any horn player.
-Jason Martineau, DMA, jazz pianist, composer, arranger
A pianist at age six, violinist at age eight, and singer since she could squeeze air through her vocal chords, Andrea Damesyn Claburn has always been surrounded by music. "My Dad was a huge fan of Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis, Frank Sinatra, so you could pretty much count on one of their LPs being somewhere near the turntable. My mom was a gifted classical pianist, and some of my earliest memories are of her playing Chopin waltzes while I twirled around the living room in a tutu. I was about four years old and just dying to play piano." By age six Andrea was playing entire pieces by ear while pretending to read music (so as not to anger her very stern piano teacher). She would spend two years playing increasingly difficult pieces by ear before finally learning to read music at age eight. "That early ear training turned out to be of critical importance when I started singing jazz, although I had no idea it was a good thing at the time – I just didn’t want my teacher to thwack my knuckles with her ruler. Fear is a great motivator."
After years of scales and arpeggios, Mozart and Telemann and Scriabin, private recitals, chamber string orchestra and madrigal choir, Andrea’s love of jazz finally took over, and she has never looked back. She immersed herself in the music of great jazz instrumentalists and vocalists, from Diz and Bird to "Sassy" and Ella and Carmen and Dee Dee. "There’s nothing like hearing a great jazz groove start up – it’s electric." Andrea studied vocal technique with Raz Kennedy, rhythm with Frank Martin, song interpretation with Ledisi, jazz theory and improvisation with Suzanne Pittson, performance with Maye Cavallaro, gradually building her jazz vocabulary and chops to where they are today. "I’ve been incredibly fortunate to learn from some superbly gifted pros. The Bay Area is full of great jazz musicians, and I have benefited enormously from their generosity of spirit."
"Music has always been my heart and soul. No matter what else I have done in my life, music has always been my center – it moves me like nothing else. My desire in singing jazz is to move others in the same way and spread the pure pleasure of this music."
(in no particular order) Sarah Vaughan, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, the Beatles, Carmen McRae, Miles Davis, Jon Hendricks, Elvis Costello, Nancy King, Paul Weller, Cleo Laine & John Dankworth, Pete Townshend, Betty Carter, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck
www.suzannepittson.com
Scats a solo like she’s channeling ‘Trane. Pianist, vocalist, educator, innovator - a huge talent and a lovely person.
www.redheadmusic.com
What she does to a ballad is a lesson in the art of storytelling and song. Get her CD Hearts and be blown away by “Nothin’ But the Blues” (with the incomparable Mimi Fox on guitar).
www.jasonmartineau.com
Wit, versatility and passion at the piano. A great player, inventive arranger, and a mensch.
www.nancykingjazz.com
The greatest living female scat singer, and a warm, funny, generous human being. Stratospheric brilliance and earthy realness co-exist in this jazz legend.
www.kurtelling.com
One of the most gifted jazz vocalists of my generation. If you don’t already have his live version of “Goin’ to Chicago” from Live at the Green Mill - a duet with the great Jon Hendricks - on your iPod, get it. Now.
www.amnestyusa.org/ginettasaganfund
My other incarnation: human rights advocate. Ginetta Sagan was my friend and mentor; the Fund established by Amnesty International USA in her name advances women’s and children’s human rights all over the globe.
www.lot49.com
San Francisco-based writer Tom Claburn’s terrific blog/political satire/archive. OK, I’m a little biased.
www.msf.org
One of the most effective NGOs in existence, brilliant in both design and execution of mission.
www.roberthouser.com
The gifted photographer responsible for the images on this site.