Andrea Keller

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Tunes by Andrea Keller

Biography

Andrea Keller is an Australian contemporary improvising pianist and composer, dedicated to the performance and creation of contemporary jazz and improvised music. Since the release of her first album in 2000 she has created a considerable body of work, which traverses styles, and ranges from solo to big band settings, including cross-cultural collaborations, cross-genre collaborations, and the use of electronics.

The diversity of Keller’s approach has seen her collaborate with, and compose for artists and ensembles such as; Eddie Perfect, Genevieve Lacey, John Surman (UK), the Song Company, the Black Arm Band, the Australian Art Orchestra, Flinders Quartet, Allan Browne, Bernie McGann, Ten Part Invention, Mike Nock, Barney McAll, James Crabb, Sydney Women’s Jazz Collective, Marshall McGuire, Zephyr (string) Quartet, Claire Edwardes, Seraphim Trio, and more.

As leader/composer/arranger she has produced Still Night: Music in Poetry (2016-), Transients (2016-), The Komeda Project (2014-), The Company of Pianos (2014-), From Ether (2013-), Three Lanes (2011-2013), The Andrea Keller Quartet/Quintet (1999–2016), and The Bartok Project (2002-2005).

Lauded for her music, Keller has received three ARIA Awards, four Australian Jazz Bell Awards, an Art Music Award, and fellowships from the MCA/Freedman Foundation and the Australia Council.

www.andreakellerpiano.com.au

Recordings: Selected Discography

  • Greatest Hits Andrea Keller Quartet (2016)
  • Wave Rider Andrea Keller Quartet with Strings (2013)
  • Family Portraits Andrea Keller solo piano (2013)
  • Three Lanes Three Lanes (2012)
  • Galumphing ‘Round the Nation: The Collaborations Project Andrea Keller Quartet (2009)
  • A Castle for All Hush Collection Volume 8 (2008)
  • Footprints: The Wayne Shorter Project Andrea Keller solo piano (2007)
  • Little Claps Andrea Keller Quartet (2007)
  • Angels and Rascals The Andrea Keller Quartet (2004)
  • Mikrokosmos Andrea Keller’s Bartok Project (2002)
  • Thirteen Sketches The Andrea Keller Quintet (2001)
  • Consider This Tim Wilson & Andrea Keller (2016)
  • Travellers Keller/Murphy/Browne (2015)
  • Life That Lingers Tim Wilson & Andrea Keller (2009)
  • Carried By the Sun Keller/Murphy/Browne (2006)

“This is totally original music; by that read no one else composes anything like this… Andrea Keller should be known throughout the jazz world, one can only hope that this album raises her international profile to where it should be.”
Michael Prescott, jazzwisemagazine.com, Mar 2014.

“… The mind and sound-world of Andrea Keller, a place that is one of the most original – if not the most original – in Australian jazz.”
John Hardaker, australianjazz.net, Nov 2013.

“Her work is always lit brightly by the spark of originality.”

Roger Mitchell, Ausjazz Blog, Apr 2012.

"Pianist Andrea Keller is a major talent on the thriving Australian scene... Apart from being an outstanding piano player, Keller has the gift for writing totally distinctive and engaging compositions. This recording stands as a marker of just how good Australian jazz is."

Bev Stapleton, AllAboutJazz.com, Jan 2006.

"One of this country's most daring and fascinating composers, she produces work that bristles with surprises, a powerful blend of European lyricism with space and improvisation."

Leon Gettler, The AGE, May 5 2005.

References

Quotes

“Keller has one of Australia’s most consistently interesting musical minds.”
- Review of ‘Little Claps’ by Doug Spencer, www.abc.net.au/rn/weekendplanet/, August, 2007.
"one of the most original thinkers on the Australian scene... she has the priceless ability to think outside the square."
- Review of 'Angels and Rascals' by Adrian Jackson, Rhythms, August, 2005.
"One of this country's most daring and fascinating composers, she produces work that bristles with surprises, a powerful blend of European lyricism with space and improvisation."
- review of 'Angels and Rascals' by Leon Gettler. The AGE, May 5, 2005.
“Their music is both friendly and deep. Their colours and textures are brilliantly recorded on this disc, their best I think.”
- Review of ‘Little Claps’ by John Clare, The Sydney Morning Herald, November, 2007.
“A beautifully conceived work with an awareness of both jazz tradition and aspects of modernist European art music…Keller and her players are consistently outstanding.”
- Review of ‘Little Claps’ by Michael Webb, www.jazz.org.au, November, 2007.