Andrew Bishop
Andrew Bishop is a versatile multi-instrumentalist (saxophone, clarinet, flute), composer, improviser, educator, and scholar comfortable in a wide array of musical idioms. He maintains an active national and international career and serves as an Assistant Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he teaches applied jazz saxophone, composition, and improvisation. He studied jazz and improvised music with David Baker, Jerry Bergonzi, Tom Fowler, Dave Liebman, Craig Owens, Ellen Rowe, Ed Sarath, and Reggie Workman; saxophone with Donald Sinta and Jean Lansing; and composition with William Albright, William Bolcom, Evan Chambers, Michael Daugherty, and Walter Mays. Bishop earned five degrees in music, including a DMA in music composition from the University of Michigan.
Bishop’s two recordings as a leader, Time and Imaginary Time and theHank Williams Project (Envoi Recordings), received widespread acclaim from The New York Times, Downbeat Magazine, The Chicago Reader, All Music Guide, Cadence Magazine, All About Jazz-New York, All About Jazz-Los Angeles, and The Detroit Free Press, among others. He leads a variety of projects including a jazz trio Bishop/Cleaver/Flood, a broadminded roots chamber ensemble, Andrew Bishop’s Hank Williams Project, a mainstream jazz group the Andrew Bishop Quartet, and a global blues project called Blue Origami. As a sideman, he has performed with Reid Anderson, Geri Allen, Karl Berger, Sandip Burman, Kenny Burrell, Eugene Chadbourne, Ray Charles, Gerald Cleaver, Drew Gress, Jerry Hahn, Robert Hurst, John Lindberg, Chris Lightcap, The Either Orchestra, Mat Maneri, The Manhattan Transfer, Tony Malaby, Ben Monder, Jeremy Pelt, Hank Roberts, Jacob Sacks, Craig Taborn, Clark Terry, Ben Waltzer, Matt Wilson, and John Zorn, among others. Bishop has recorded over 30 compact discs as a sideman and regularly performs as a member of Gerald Cleaver’s Violet Hour and Uncle June, the Ellen Rowe Quartet, the Tad Weed Freedom Ensemble, Phil Ogilive’s Rhythm Kings, and the contemporary concert music group Opus 21.
As a composer and arranger, he has received over 20 commissions from professional organizations and universities and numerous residencies. He has also received recognition and awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP); The Chicago Symphony Orchestra; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and a nomination from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His orchestral composition Crooning was recorded by the Albany Symphony Orchestra on Two American Piano Concertos (Albany Records), featuring pianists Ursula Oppens and Ian Hobson. He has also completed composition and arranging projects for percussionists Matt Wilson and Steve Houghton and is currently completing a chamber music project for saxophonist Dave Liebman.