Andy Wasserman

Jazz pianist and native New Yorker Andy Wasserman draws on an astonishingly diverse range of experience in the world of music since becoming a full-time professional musician in 1971. Throughout his career as a multi-instrumentalist, performer, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer and educator, Wasserman has had the privilege of being mentored by three of the finest musicians on the planet - Dwike Mitchell, George Russell and Papa Ladji Camara. In his youth he attended the High School of Music and Art (drums, orchestral percussion) and the Metropolitan Music School (piano and theory) in Manhattan and earned his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies (composition and theory) from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

Jazz pianist and native New Yorker Andy Wasserman draws on an astonishingly diverse range of experience in the world of music since becoming a full-time professional musician in 1971. Throughout his career as a multi-instrumentalist, performer, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer and educator, Wasserman has had the privilege of being mentored by three of the finest musicians on the planet - Dwike Mitchell, George Russell and Papa Ladji Camara. In his youth he attended the High School of Music and Art (drums, orchestral percussion) and the Metropolitan Music School (piano and theory) in Manhattan and earned his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies (composition and theory) from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

His 10+ years of private study with master pianist Dwike Mitchell (one-half of the internationally acclaimed Jazz group “The Mitchell-Ruff Duo”) paved the way for Andy's extensive work as musical director and accompanist for Jazz Tap Dance Festivals, and influential Jazz tap dancers that include The Copasetics (Cookie Cook, Honi Coles, Bubba Gaines, Buster Brown, Ernest “Brownie” Brown and Gip Gibson), Savion Glover, Jimmy Slyde, Dianne Walker, Jane Goldberg, Jason Samuels, Sam Weber, Fayard Nicolas, Brenda Buffalino, Katherine Kramer, Robert Reed and Nicole Hockenberry. In addition to working with dancers, Andy Wasserman has played in a myriad of New York City clubs as soloist and accompanist. He was contracted through the American Federation of Musicians Local 802 for a continuous nine-year engagement as the resident solo jazz pianist every Friday & Saturday night and Sunday Brunch at the Ambassador Room of the United Nations Plaza Hotel in New York City from 1987-1996.

Wasserman began working with legendary composer, band leader, theoritician and NEA Jazz Master George Russell at New England Conservatory of Music in 1979. After a few years of private study, Russell enlisted Andy to serve as his substitute instructor at the Conservatory for his classes in the Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization when Russell was on international tours with his band, The Living Time Orchestra. Andy continues to act as an editorial assistant and seminar leader in George Russell's “Concept” and is one of only a handful of people authorized by Russell to teach 'The Concept' in it's entirety. Wasserman is currently the only certified Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization teacher in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area where he conducts clinics and gives private lessons. He worked under Mr. Russell's direction for 20 years on the 2001 published final edition of “George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization; Volume One - The Art and Science of Tonal Gravity.”

His mentoring with Papa Ladji Camara (Guinea, West Africa) - master drummer of the original “Les Ballet Africain de Keita Fodeba” - lasted from 1998 - 2004. This work was a culmination of Wasserman's ethnomusicological studies that began in the early 1960's when Andy was a young boy starting his collection of musical instruments from Africa. He went on to incorporate world music into many artistic projects from the early 1970's to the present. His work in West African, Oriental, Middle Eastern, Native American, Latin, South American and Afro-Cuban stylistic genres inspired his creation of participatory multi-cultural productions that have been presented in performance, master class, artist-in-residence and workshop venues at over 2,000 festivals, schools, colleges and universities, museums and various public and private institutions since 1979. He currently tours regularly, spreading his message of global unity and healing through music with his original solo presentations “Making Music From Around the World”, “Instruments: Ancient to Future” and “Music: The Voice of Unity” utilizing the 140 traditional ethnic wind, string and percussion instruments in his personal collection.

Wasserman's original compositions, arrangements, piano and multi-instrumental performances on many recordings and soundtracks for TV, Radio and Film productions have appeared on the NBC, CBS and ABC networks, as well as Cable TV stations that include A & E, The Lifetime Network, History Channel, Travel Channel, TBS, Nickelodeon, Turner Network, Learning Channel and internationally - in countries that include Japan, Argentina, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, Australia, Brazil and France.

Andy Wasserman has 9 recordings released on CD of his compositions, arrangements and instrumental performances. Titles include:

KINDRED SPIRITS (High Harmony Records)

BEFORE WE ASK (Z-Pen Records)

SMOKIN' JAZZ (Alternate Mode Records)

UNIVERSAL BEAT (Alternate Mode Records)

BEAD SONGS (TransMedia Sound & Music)

PEACEFUL PIANO CHRISTMAS (TransMedia Sound & Music)

His latest CD release is “OVER TONES” featuring the sound of THE 3C TRIO, a classic musical collaboration of subtle intimacy and ultra-sensitive spontaneous communication with Wasserman on piano, world-class jazz veteran Lisle Atkinson on bass and master drummer Joe Licinski.

Additionally, his unique and sophisticated thematic solo piano work has been produced on special edition TV/Film Music Library CDs as composer, arranger and instrumentalist, distributed around the world by both the Pyramid Music Library (SOLO PIANO, Vol. 1) and the TWI North American Library (SOLO PIANO, Vol. 2) through licensing deals with BRG Music Works.

Wasserman's publishing company Andrew Roy Music has a current catalog of 35 of his original compositions that have been recorded and released for worldwide distribution. BMI maintains a catalog of 73 published works with Wasserman as songwriter & composer. Wasserman entered into Digital Distribution beginning in June 2007 with licensing to Apple iTunes, E-Music, Amazon.com, GreatIndieMusic, PayPlay, GroupieTunes, Napster, Tradebit, MusicIsHere, BuyMusic, SNOCAP and Verizon.

Wasserman is the founder and president of TransMedia Sound & Music, a production company that facilitates his wide range of production activities, from in-house scores and digital editing & mastering to multimedia content development. Corporate clients since 1987 have included AT&T, IBM, Panasonic, Mastercard, Sanofi-Winthrop Pharmaceuticals, Atlantic Mutual Insurance, Prentice-Hall, The Mayo Clinic, Castrol Motor Oil, Altered Image, Time-Life Music, Digital Cable Radio, New York Communications and Prime Productions. Andy has been creating digital media since the late 1980's and was a co-creator and co-producer of 'Beat of the Blue Planet' a 1995 ground-breaking interactive world music CD-ROM produced for Opcode Interactive.

Additionally, TransMedia Sound & Music - his own independent record label founded in 2007 - functions as a charitable organization through the production and distribution of world music recordings, raising money for underfunded programs that assist indigenous peoples from around the world.

Andy Wasserman has been exploring and utilizing many therapeutic and healing modalities of music since 1974. He was recognized for his work in this field by the American Association of Artists-Therapists based on the sound and music healing workshops he conducted in private and public institutions serving a wide spectrum of special needs audiences. He was also enrolled in the Music Therapy Department of Graduate Studies at New York University in 1984.

As of 2009, Wasserman's current activities include a private teaching roster of 30 students per week from his base in New Jersey, along with concert performances, club dates and leading arts-in-education workshops. He is producing and recording a new CD of original compositions for the 3C Trio, another original CD of all percussion music as well as a 4-disc CD set of his solo piano artistry.