Biography
A Michigan-based performer, recording artist, and educator residing in Ann Arbor, Andrew Bishop steers clear of any narrowly defined jazz idiom. The reed player’s expansive outlook has prompted him to cross stylistic lines in his own work and to build inventive partnerships with musicians spanning the jazz landscape, ranging from post-bop players in the Midwest to experimentalists and improvisers rooted in Brooklyn. Throughout his career he has appeared with equal comfort in a straight-ahead setting at the now-closed Firefly Club in Ann Arbor, in free-improvisation contexts at Barbès in Brooklyn, or as a contributor to forward-looking modern classical projects. Equipped with an active imagination, broad polystylistic awareness, and strong technical facility, Bishop has established himself as a compelling figure in contemporary creative jazz.
Long resident in Ann Arbor, Bishop received two Bachelor of Music degrees from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas; fellow WSU alumni with whom he would later work include drummer Matt Wilson and banjoist Paul Elwood. He pursued further study at the University of Michigan, earning two Master of Music degrees and ultimately a Doctor of Musical Arts in composition. During his graduate years he encountered Detroit-born drummer Gerald Cleaver and bassist Tim Flood, forming the enduring trio Bishop/Cleaver/Flood in 1996—an ensemble that continued on an intermittent basis for twenty years. In 1997 Bishop introduced the boundary-crossing Hank Williams Project at the first Edgefest presented by Kerrytown Concert House, performing in a quartet with Wilson, Elwood, and Flood.
Although occupied with academic duties and numerous sideman roles, Bishop did not issue recordings by either Bishop/Cleaver/Flood or the Hank Williams Project until the mid-2000s. Time & Imaginary Time appeared on Envoi Recordings in 2005, followed in 2006 by The Hank Williams Project on the same label. The first of these discs highlighted Bishop’s soprano and tenor saxophone and clarinet work within a deeply attuned trio setting, presenting original compositions that fused the spontaneous energy of free jazz with large-scale contemporary compositional architecture. The second, now expanded to an octet that included guitarist Ryan Mackstaller, cellist Katri Ervamaa, violinist Steve Trismen, and vocalist/saxophonist Andy Kirshner, uncovered shared territory among Hank Williams standards such as “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and elements of post-bop, free jazz, bluegrass, and subtle Indian-raga influences.
After serving as assistant professor of jazz, theory, and composition at Albion College, Bishop joined the University of Michigan faculty as associate professor of jazz and contemporary improvisation. From the early 2000s through the mid-2010s he remained active as a sideman, most consistently as a member of the Ellen Rowe Quartet and Quintet led by pianist Rowe, who chairs the university’s Department of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation. He appears on Rowe’s albums Sylvan Way (2001), Denali Pass (2005), Wishing Well (2010), and Courage Music (2014). Further reflecting his wide-ranging interests, Bishop participated in projects as diverse as the 2001 Bird of Paradise Orchestra recording Paris Blues, a straight-ahead big-band date, and the 2006 Envoi release Push by the avant-garde quartet Bottomed Out.
Bishop sustained his association with Cleaver after the drummer relocated to Brooklyn and established an international reputation among creative-music percussionists. On Cleaver’s 2001 debut as a leader, the Fresh Sound New Talent album Adjust, recorded with the Veil of Names sextet, Bishop performed on clarinet, tenor, and soprano saxophones alongside keyboardist Craig Taborn, violist Mat Maneri, guitarist Ben Monder, and bassist Reid Anderson. In 2006 at Barbès, Bishop recorded a live performance with a Cleaver-led sextet that also featured tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen, trumpeter and flügelhornist Jeremy Pelt, bassist Chris Lightcap, and pianist Ben Waltzer; the session was released in 2008 as Gerald Cleaver’s Detroit on Fresh Sound New Talent. He also contributed soprano saxophone, alto flute, and bass clarinet to the 2012 Tim Flood Quartet album Mag Mell, an avant-garde jazz and electronica hybrid issued on Envoi, with Cleaver and pianist Jacob Sacks also participating and Flood handling mixing and production.
Bishop’s third leader date—and the second by the Bishop/Cleaver/Flood trio—appeared on Envoi in March 2015. Titled De Profundis and featuring the reed player on flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, and soprano and tenor saxophones, the recording alternated new, deeply personal compositions with reinterpretations of material drawn from Josquin Des Prez, the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Renaissance composer whose contrapuntal and polyphonic techniques have continued to shape music into the present. In May 2015 Bishop returned to a supporting role, playing contrabass clarinet within a four-clarinet section completed by Ben Goldberg, Oscar Noriega, and Joachim Badenhorst on the Clean Feed release Save Your Breath by Kris Davis’ Infrasound octet.
Long resident in Ann Arbor, Bishop received two Bachelor of Music degrees from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas; fellow WSU alumni with whom he would later work include drummer Matt Wilson and banjoist Paul Elwood. He pursued further study at the University of Michigan, earning two Master of Music degrees and ultimately a Doctor of Musical Arts in composition. During his graduate years he encountered Detroit-born drummer Gerald Cleaver and bassist Tim Flood, forming the enduring trio Bishop/Cleaver/Flood in 1996—an ensemble that continued on an intermittent basis for twenty years. In 1997 Bishop introduced the boundary-crossing Hank Williams Project at the first Edgefest presented by Kerrytown Concert House, performing in a quartet with Wilson, Elwood, and Flood.
Although occupied with academic duties and numerous sideman roles, Bishop did not issue recordings by either Bishop/Cleaver/Flood or the Hank Williams Project until the mid-2000s. Time & Imaginary Time appeared on Envoi Recordings in 2005, followed in 2006 by The Hank Williams Project on the same label. The first of these discs highlighted Bishop’s soprano and tenor saxophone and clarinet work within a deeply attuned trio setting, presenting original compositions that fused the spontaneous energy of free jazz with large-scale contemporary compositional architecture. The second, now expanded to an octet that included guitarist Ryan Mackstaller, cellist Katri Ervamaa, violinist Steve Trismen, and vocalist/saxophonist Andy Kirshner, uncovered shared territory among Hank Williams standards such as “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and elements of post-bop, free jazz, bluegrass, and subtle Indian-raga influences.
After serving as assistant professor of jazz, theory, and composition at Albion College, Bishop joined the University of Michigan faculty as associate professor of jazz and contemporary improvisation. From the early 2000s through the mid-2010s he remained active as a sideman, most consistently as a member of the Ellen Rowe Quartet and Quintet led by pianist Rowe, who chairs the university’s Department of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation. He appears on Rowe’s albums Sylvan Way (2001), Denali Pass (2005), Wishing Well (2010), and Courage Music (2014). Further reflecting his wide-ranging interests, Bishop participated in projects as diverse as the 2001 Bird of Paradise Orchestra recording Paris Blues, a straight-ahead big-band date, and the 2006 Envoi release Push by the avant-garde quartet Bottomed Out.
Bishop sustained his association with Cleaver after the drummer relocated to Brooklyn and established an international reputation among creative-music percussionists. On Cleaver’s 2001 debut as a leader, the Fresh Sound New Talent album Adjust, recorded with the Veil of Names sextet, Bishop performed on clarinet, tenor, and soprano saxophones alongside keyboardist Craig Taborn, violist Mat Maneri, guitarist Ben Monder, and bassist Reid Anderson. In 2006 at Barbès, Bishop recorded a live performance with a Cleaver-led sextet that also featured tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen, trumpeter and flügelhornist Jeremy Pelt, bassist Chris Lightcap, and pianist Ben Waltzer; the session was released in 2008 as Gerald Cleaver’s Detroit on Fresh Sound New Talent. He also contributed soprano saxophone, alto flute, and bass clarinet to the 2012 Tim Flood Quartet album Mag Mell, an avant-garde jazz and electronica hybrid issued on Envoi, with Cleaver and pianist Jacob Sacks also participating and Flood handling mixing and production.
Bishop’s third leader date—and the second by the Bishop/Cleaver/Flood trio—appeared on Envoi in March 2015. Titled De Profundis and featuring the reed player on flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, and soprano and tenor saxophones, the recording alternated new, deeply personal compositions with reinterpretations of material drawn from Josquin Des Prez, the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Renaissance composer whose contrapuntal and polyphonic techniques have continued to shape music into the present. In May 2015 Bishop returned to a supporting role, playing contrabass clarinet within a four-clarinet section completed by Ben Goldberg, Oscar Noriega, and Joachim Badenhorst on the Clean Feed release Save Your Breath by Kris Davis’ Infrasound octet.
Albums
