NYC’s unique jazz prayer service, Sundays at 5 since 1965. All are welcome. Free to attend!

ABOUT ANDREA WOLPER (voice)

Singer, songwriter, poet Andrea Wolper works “in a milieu that begins with jazz and reaches out to embrace an expressive area that is uniquely her own.” One of the “great jazz singers” in Scott Yanow’s book, “The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide,” Andrea appears frequently in her New York home base and tours in the U.S. and abroad. New York highlights as a headliner include Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, the Blue Note, Mezzrow, and countless other clubs and concert spaces. Cadence Magazine calls her songwriting “easily superior,” she has been awarded a number of composing residencies, and her poetry has appeared in numerous journals. Andrea leads several ensembles and has appeared as a side-person with artists across jazz genres including Jay Clayton, William Parker, and the Heavenly Big Band. Andrea’s newest recording, “Wanderlust,” will be released in April 2024 on the Moonflower Music label; she’ll also be heard on a new release by William Parker. Andrea teaches vocal technique, coaches jazz singers, and teaches classes in vocal performance, improvisation, songwriting, and more at the California Jazz Conservatory and elsewhere. “An audacious artist [who] flouts genre limitations, singing songs for the love of it and delivering an inventive, thrilling, appealing musical vision.” (Quotes: International Review of Music, Cadence, Blogcritics).

ABOUT CARMEN STAAF (piano)

Music legend Herbie Hancock calls Carmen Staaf “a consummate jazz pianist with equal talent in composition, orchestration and arranging.” Currently pianist and Musical Director for NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater, Carmen has performed everywhere from the Village Vanguard with John Zorn, to Lincoln Center as a guest soloist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, to recordings with Natalie Merchant (“Keep Your Courage”) and Lila Downs (“Pecados Y Milagros”). As a composer, she has been commissioned by the Jazz Coalition, the Jazz Education Network, and trombonist Jennifer Wharton, and created orchestral arrangements for the American Ballet Theater. She was a fellow at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute, where she studied with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. A Yamaha Artist, Carmen has played at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Newport and Monterey Jazz Festivals, the Playboy Jazz Festival (where she performed in a two-piano setting with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter), International Jazz Days in Paris and at the White House, and throughout Europe, Latin America, Morocco, India and Japan. She has been a DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star Pianist for the last three years. Her 2018 co-led album “Science Fair” (with drummer Allison Miller) made both the NY Times and LA Times “Best of 2018” lists, and received 4.5 stars in DownBeat. She is also on recordings by Allison Miller, Jeff Williams, Dan Blake, Jenny Scheinman, and many others.