Andrea Brachfeld
First Lady of Latin Flute
by Bobby Ramirez
When listening to flutist
Andrea Brachfeld's new CD, it is obvious that she performs with
"sweet passion." Thus, Andrea manages to capture the
essential flavor of the traditional Cuban style known as Charanga,
as well as adding a tinge of Jazz. Her technique and sound quality
on the flute are very high caliber--in the same heavyweight league
as Orlando "Maracas" Valle and Dave Valentin. But that's
not all.
Brachfeld has undoubtedly
carved a place for herself within the historical archives of
Latin music as First Lady of Latin flute.
Ask most veteran musicians
that go back to the 1960--perhaps even earlier: women instrumentalist
in Latin music just simply did not exist. In that regard, Andrea
Brachfeld broke through the gender gap of Latin music during
the heyday of the heavy "Salsa" movement in New York
City (especially then and even today to a slightly lesser extent:
dominated by men) and became a pioneer musician by being the
first female to gain notable status as a flutist by performing
with some of the top orchestras in New York City during the 1970's.
Today, Andrea continues adding
to her pioneer legacy as First Lady of Latin Flute by performing
with her Latin Jazz ensemble and Son Charanga Orchestra, as guest
soloist with other orchestras in NYC, and has two excellent recordings
as a leader. Suffice to say that she may be one of the most popular
and certainly much loved by many musicians in her Latin New York
music scene. Congratulations to Bobby Marin and David Wasserman
of Latin Cool Records for making it possible for Andrea's grand
talent to soar through her latest recording entitled, "Back
With Sweet Passion."
Read interview
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