Andrea Keller is a pianist, composer and educator who has won just about every jazz award available in Australia- three ARIA Awards, five Australian Jazz ‘Bell’ Awards, two Art Music Awards, an APRA Professional Development Award, and fellowships from the Freedman Foundation and the Australia Council. She has performs in every format from solo piano to big band. She has played with the absolute greats of Australian Jazz including Bernie McGann, Allan Browne and Ten Part Invention as well as with many international visitors. Originally from Sydney Andrea moved to Melbourne to study in the early 1990s. She is back in Sydney to perform for the SIMA 2018 Summer Jazz season with long time collaborator Tim Wilson on saxophone and bassist Christopher Hale.

Eastside’s Mick Paddon interviewed Andrea Keller for his show Time and Space talking about everything from how she first made her move from the saxophone section of a big band to the piano stool, how she got into jazz, why she has been reluctant to call herself a jazz musician. She selected two pieces of music to be played during the interview. The first song is ‘sea lady’ by a British trio of vocalist Norma Winstone, pianist John Taylor and saxophonist Tony Coe from their 1986 CD Somewhere Called Home . the second piece is performed by another trio- Julien Wilsoon on tenor saxophone, Stephen Magnusson on guitar and Stephen Grant on piano accordion. The track ‘blessed’ is from their 2207 CD trio live recorded at Bennett’s Lane club in Melbourne. The interview, with the music, was first broadcast on Eastside Radio, 89.7fm on February 14th.