Alexa Rodrian

Alexa Rodrian (2015)

Alexa Rodrian (* 1966 in Munich ) is a German songwriter, composer and jazz singer.

Life

Alexa Rodrian grew up in an art, film and music-loving environment. Jazz played a major role in this. During her school days at the Willy-Graf-Gymnasium in Munich, she began to sing in public. First she sang rock and pop and was signed to Bellaphon Records for a German rock production. Then she turned back to jazz, worked with the coaches Naomi Isaacs and Jenny Evans and attended workshops with Marc Murphy . She got her first jazz theory lessons from Larry Porter .

After graduating from high school, Rodrian sang in nightclubs and at weddings in order to finance her first studies in law, later Romance studies and musicology at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. She had her first major live performance with Michael Alf on the piano in Konstantin Wecker's Café Giesing. She was signed by the Munich jazz and blues label United Sounds / Peter Schneider and recorded her first jazz CD "Living Jazz in a Room" with Michael Alf, Tony Lakatos and Paulo Cardoso .

In 1992 she moved to New York to live with her uncle, the gallery owner Heiner Friedrich, and his family to study music and jazz at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music under the direction of Arnie Lawrence and Reggie Workman .

As the protegee of Sheila Jordan , Buster Williams , Jackie Paris and Anne_Marie_Moss , Alexa Rodrian completed a three-year basic training in jazz and after graduating with a BFA, switched to the Manhattan School of Music , where she completed her last two years together with Jane Monheit then graduate with a Master of Music.

During her student years she played together with her partner Jens Fischer aka. Fischer with their own songs and compositions in New York clubs.

Since the end of 1999 Rodrian has been living in Germany again, initially in Munich, where she recorded her second album "Blue Blood" with her own band with guitarist Fischer and bassist Tom Peschel in the Downhill Studio and played a jazz duo with bassist Sven Faller. With her band and her duo, she performed regularly in the jazz clubs and cultural centers in Unterfahrt, the Seidlvilla , the Bayerischer Hof in Munich and in the cultural center Leerer Beutel in Regensburg.

In 2002, two years after the birth of her first daughter, she got a teaching position at the Bavarian Theater Academy August Everding and taught singing privately. At the same time she also recorded the song "Girasoli" in a duet with her old mentor Konstantin Wecker, which appeared on his CD "Vaterland".

In 2004 her husband Jens Fischer-Rodrian became musical director of the Blue Man Group and they moved to Berlin together. There they founded the Shared Night at B-Flat, which takes place regularly to this day and where each time other guest musicians such as Max Prosa , Tim Neuhaus or the Trio Elf perform.

After the birth of their second daughter in 2007, their third album "All done and dusted" was released on NRW Records. At the same time she got a teaching position for jazz and popular singing at the University of the Arts in Berlin, in addition she became CMT / Certified Master Teacher of the Estill-Voice-Training-Method of the American singing teacher and vocal scientist Jo Estill .

In 2013 she left NRW Records and was signed by Enja Records / Yellowbird. There she released the albums "Mothersday" and 2015 "Mother Unplugged".

In 2015 she sang the music for the Welthungerhilfe charity audio book “Mein Mali” by Miriam Knickriem, read by Katja Riemann , Sebastian Blomberg , Barbara Auer , their daughters Lou & Coco Rodrian and Max Tijardovic.

Alexa Rodrian plays regularly in jazz clubs and venues such as the Zig Zag Jazz Club, the B-Flat and the Green Salon at the Volksbühne in Berlin and the Die Milla as well as the Unterfahrt in Munich and other clubs in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and also in the UNITED STATES.

Discography

Solo albums

1991 Living Jazz in the Room (United Sounds)
1997 Lala (Influx Production New York)
1999 Blue Blood (Freibad Records)
2009 All Done and Dusted (NRW Records)
2013 Mothersday (Enja Records)
2015 Mother Unplugged (Enja Records)

With other artists

2001 "Girasoli" duet with Konstantin Wecker on the album "Vaterland" (BMG)
2009 "Stay Tuned" from Trondheim (NRW Records)
2012 "Wut und Zärtlichkeit" by Konstantin Wecker ( Sturm und Klang )
2015 "Mein Mali" by Mirjam Knickriem (audio book) with Katja Riemann, Barbara Auer, Sebastian Blomberg and others (Lametta Records)
2016 " Without Why - live " by Konstantin Wecker (Sturm und Klang)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Rodrian, Alexa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German songwriter, composer and jazz singer
DATE OF BIRTH	1966
PLACE OF BIRTH	Munich