Andrea Brachfeld

After devoting seventeen years to raising a family, Andrea Brachfeld resumed her musical career in 1999 and immediately reestablished her presence on the scene. That same year she issued the self-produced album Remembered Dreams, which displayed her command of both Latin and post-bop jazz. Evidence of her musical gifts had appeared in earliest childhood. She spent four years studying piano before taking up the flute at age ten. At the High School of Music and Art she met and performed alongside Noel Pointer, Nat Adderely Jr., Dave Valentin, and Buddy Williams. By sixteen she had completed her first jazz engagement and had begun writing original material. Jazzmobile workshops, where Jimmy Heath numbered among her instructors, and Jazz Interactions workshops, where flute teacher Yusef Lateef acquainted her with world music, further expanded her knowledge. After graduating high school in 1973 she entered the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Harold Bennett and Andrew Lolya. The following year she received the Louis Armstrong Award for outstanding jazz student. She also worked with Hubert Laws, Eddie Daniels, and George Coleman.

Latin music began to attract her strongly during the mid-1970s. In addition to appearances with Tipica New York, the Benito Sextet, Charanga '76, Tipica Ideal, and Joe Quijana, she sat in with such Latin legends as Ray Barretto, Mchito, and the late Tito Puente. She maintained this active schedule after finishing her formal training. An invitation to Venezuela led to a two-and-a-half-year residence in that country, during which she performed six nights a week with a Caracas-based jazz band. Back in the United States she recorded advertising jingles and assembled her own jazz combo. Although the group opened concerts for Gary Burton, Paco de Lucia, and Chick Corea, she eventually stepped away from music to raise a family. In 2001 she signed with the San Francisco-based Spirit Nectar record label.