Bio

Andrew Oliver is a pianist from Portland, Oregon, specializing in stride piano, 1920s jazz and blues, ragtime, and tango.  His playing is energetic and authentic, drawing on the styles of pianists such as Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, and Earl Hines to deliver a stomping style which emphasizes the exciting groove that brought jazz to the forefront of popular music in the 20th century.

A specialist in the music of the great New Orleans pioneering pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton, Andrew has recorded all of Jelly’s known compositions on the “Complete Morton Project” YouTube Channel with clarinetist David Horniblow.  Their duo album of Morton’s tunes on Lejazzetal was selected as one of the 10 best jazz albums of 2019 by the Times (London).  Andrew lived in London from 2013-2020, performing in the UK and Europe with a number of acclaimed groups including the Dime Notes and Vitality Five.

Andrew is the founder of the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, a 2012 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works recipient, and an Oregon Arts Commission fellow.

Andrew has led the Bridgetown Sextet, the Northwest’s most authentic 1920s and 30s jazz and swing ensemble, for almost 20 years, and also co-leads the Oliver-Smith Incomparables, a national all-star group of hot jazz specialists, at festivals across the country. The Incomparables’ debut album will be released in fall 2026 on Turtle Bay Records. Andrew is also a regular at the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party in the UK and at other festivals around the U.S., as well as performing regularly with the Hot Lovin’ Jazz Babies and Forty Drop Few in Portland.

In addition to classic jazz, Andrew is also active in classic Tango music, performing traditional and contemporary tango music for social dances and at dance festivals regularly with Conjunto Berretin.