Alexa Barchini is a jazz vocalist, composer, and lyricist based in the Philadelphia area. Raised in a culturally diverse family with a mother that studied opera, Alexa began singing as a young girl—hairbrush in hand as a pseudo-microphone. Though initially attracted to mostly classical and pop repertoire, she was introduced to jazz and improvised music as a teenager. Somewhere along the line she caught the proverbial ‘bug,’ and has since gone on to study and perform in various settings, with tours taking her to Los Angeles, Berlin, New York, and Boston. With a particular interest in the music of Brazil, her compositions fuse her deep love of jazz and jazz singing—rich harmonies, a capacity for story telling, and improvisatory freedom—with playful Latin-influenced rhythms and the warm, understated style of singers like João Gilberto. 

Of one of her most recent work on New York pianist Julian Shore’s 2012 release, Filaments, All About Jazz critic Dave Wayne said, “Her voice is close-miked, soft and intimate, and conveys the feeling that she's sharing a secret that is just beyond one's grasp.” She recently completed a Bachelor’s degree in vocal jazz performance at Temple University in Philadelphia where she was lucky enough to study under the direction of Joanna Pascale, Dick Oatts, Bruce Barth, and Terell Stafford. Over the past few years, she has had the opportunity to record and perform with such artists as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gilad Hekselman, John Swana, Wycliffe Gordon, and Terell Stafford, among others.