A consistently intriguing creative jazz artist with a fertile imagination, deep polystylistic knowledge, and impressive technical chops, Ann Arbor, Michigan-based multi-reedist and educator Andrew Bishop is at home on-stage, in the recording studio, or in the classroom. The current University of Michigan associate professor of jazz and contemporary improvisation was a grad student at the U-M back in the '90s when he crossed paths with two other musicians, Detroit-born drummer Gerald Cleaver and bassist Tim Flood, with whom he formed his longest-standing ensemble, Bishop/Cleaver/Flood, in 1996. The trio debuted as part of Ann Arbor venue Kerrytown Concert House's Jazz at the Edge series, and various other live dates would follow, but nearly ten years would elapse between Bishop/Cleaver/Flood's inception and their appearance on Bishop's debut album, Time Imaginary Time, released in 2005 on the Envoi label. Showcasing the reedman's skills on soprano and tenor saxophones and clarinet with the deeply empathetic involvement of Cleaver and Flood, the Bishop-penned music on Time Imaginary Time melded free jazz expressiveness with a suite-like modern compositional form.

Although Cleaver departed Michigan for Brooklyn and maintained a busy schedule as one of the most in-demand percussionists in creative improvised music, Bishop continued his collaborative relationship with the drummer, appearing on a pair of Cleaver albums, Adjust (2001) and Gerald Cleaver's Detroit (2008), both released by the Fresh Sound New Talent label. In addition, Bishop played soprano sax, alto flute, and bass clarinet on Mag Mell (2012), an avant jazz-meets-electronica recording by the Tim Flood Quartet, led by bassist Flood and also featuring Cleaver along with pianist Jacob Sacks. Roughly three years after Mag Mell and a decade after the release of Time Imaginary Time, the second recording by the Bishop/Cleaver/Flood trio -- and Bishop's third album overall as a leader -- arrived on Envoi in March 2015. With Bishop featured on flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, and soprano and tenor saxophones, De Profundis interspersed the reedman's intimately personal compositions with varied reimaginings of a passage from Josquin Des Prez, a 15th and 16th century Renaissance composer noted for contrapuntal and polyphonic works that have deeply influenced music to the present day. ~ Dave Lynch, Rovi