The jazz flute is hard to come by today. Too few flutists bother to learn the jazz craft, leaving the market a bit dry. Which is why Lady of the Island (Zoho) by flutist Andrea Brachfeld is a delightful surprise. You listen to her play, and you can’t believe what you’re hearing. Brachfeld is an incredibly skilled jazz player, […]

While Andrea Brachfeld is perhaps best known for her work in Latin Jazz, Lady Of The Island is her first full-length straight-ahead jazz CD. Featured on C flute and alto flute, she stakes her claim as one of the top jazz flutists around today. With a rhythm section usually comprised pianist Bill O’ Connell (who […]

If you check an online list of the 100 greatest jazz flautists, which seems to have been last updated in February of 2005, of course you’ll find names like Eric Dolphy, Herbie Mann and Rahsaan Roland Kirk leading the pack. Andrea Brachfeld comes in at number 70. Listen to her latest album, Lady of the […]

…I kinda like the fresh approach of Andrea Brachfeld. Her basic quartet of flute, piano, bass and drums is augmented here by a number of guests, notably Wycliffe Gordon on trombone and Wallace Roney on trumpet…Her brisk opener, “Bebop Hanna,” is a flag-waver, and “Dead Ahead” is taken at a tempo not for the faint […]

With jazz flute, you’re always flirting with the danger of sounding like Muzak. There are several strategies for avoiding that fate, one of which is to swing really, really hard; another is to adopt a kind of super-woody tone that communicates musical seriousness; another is to shade off into avant-gardism. Andrea Brachfeld leans on none […]

Pity the poor flute. It suffered horrifically during the long siege of New Agery, which, oh please God let it be so!, now appears to finally have ground pretty much to a halt… …it appears intelligence is finding its way back to the surface. That’s certainly the case with Andrea Brachfeld’s Lady of the Island. […]

Andrea Brachfeld’s association with Charanga ’76,Wayne Wallace, Tipica Ideal, Tito Puente and many others helped to establish her as the first flute lady of Latin jazz, but that designation, while flattering, is limiting. Lady Of The Island posits that she’s actually been a closeted straight ahead player all along. For her fifth leader date, and […]

“Just do it!” — A bit of a bumper sticker and of course the famous calling card of the Nike brand but that same philosophy and approach to music can be the difference between a performer and a true artist. Flute players are a dime a dozen but artists that play flute are rare. Herbie […]