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Tuesday April 18 doors at 9:00 ~ show at 9:30 |
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Andrea Kuzmich ARTIST BIO Andrea Kuzmich, the first recipient of the Ella Fitzgerald Award for Performance from York University, is a dynamic and emotional singer. Her voice is unique. With a reed like timbre, she pulls from a very diverse musical background and delivers a song in a manner that can immediately and unmistakably be identified as Andrea. It's not just her velvet like tone, but her inflections, her articulation -- her personal experience resonating through the song. When you listen to Andrea, you'll know without a doubt that she can swing, but the roots of her feel partially comes from singing with Chorale Jerico, a Congolese gospel choir. Stretching a little from the African influence, she explores different concepts of rhythm and scales with her continued studies in South Indian singing and drumming with Suba and Trichi Sankaran. And very dear to her heart is her activity with Darbazi - a choir featuring the polyphonic choral music from the Republic of Georgia. The flip side is her activity in contemporary improvised music. She has had great opportunities to perform with legendary free jazz trumpeter Raphe Malik, the late free jazz tenor player Glenn Spearman, and New York's active saxophonist Sabir Mateen. Moderating this eclectic background is her recent participation in the 1999 Banff International Jazz Workshop, where all these diverse elements were welcomed and bridged. There, she will never forget the beauty of singing with such greats as Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Hugh Fraser, Dave Holland and Kenny Werner. Andrea has received well rewarded praise as the feature singer on the 1999 CD release of Whitney Smith Big Steam Band's Swing's Mistress, and is also the singer on Mark Hundevad's Spiritual Alignment's two CD set Balancing, released March 1999. Most recently, she has produced her own CD called Kooz's Blues - not yet released. All three Cd's have been receiving airplay on CJRT, CBC and other community jazz radio. Among the many many clubs and festivals Andrea has performed at are: the Bamboo, the Horseshoe, the Rivoli, Mezzetta Cafe, Bar Code, Starbucks, Chicken Deli, C'est What, Free Times Cafe, the Idler Pub, the Music Gallery, the Toronto JVC Jazz Festival, the Toronto DuMaurier Jazz Festival, the Guelph Jazz Festival, First Night, the Festival of Lights, the Taste of Little Italy, and the Taste of the Danforth. She has shared the stage with many musicians including: John McLeod, Mark Promane, Quinsin Nachoff, Kenji Ome, Jake Wilkinson, Barry Romberg, Russ Little, Bob Fenton, John Alcorn, Cal Dod, Norm Villeneuve, Leni Soloman, Del Dako, Paul Ashwell, Steve Crow, Mike Hawker, Artie Roth, Mike McLellan, William Carn, Lena Allemano, Mark Hundevad, Maureen Forester, Dinah Christie, Jim Heineman, John T. Davis, Bob Mover, Michael Occhipinti, Bill Westcott, and others. Contact Andrea Kuzmich 416-449-5545 49 Abbeywood Trail Toronto M3B 3B4 akuz@home.com |
