Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Laura has headlined at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, The Montavilla Jazz Festival, and The Syracuse Jazz Festival. She have also performed at many of New York City’s top clubs, including the Blue Note, Cornelia St. Cafe's "New Brazilian Jazz Perspectives" series, Bean Runner Cafe, Fat Cat, Sweet Rhythm, Birdland,  Zinc Bar, and The Jazz Forum, to name a few. A seasoned recording artist, Laura’s debut CD Mysterious Encounter (Lavasphere), is available on itunes and CDbaby. In addition, Laura produced a compilation CD entitled Sax in the City (Apria), for which the proceeds benefit breast cancer charities. Laura's 2012 release, Free Flying Bird (Piloo), can be purchased itunes and CDbaby, and she is a featured performer on Brazilian pianist Dom Salvador's newest recording, The Art of Samba Jazz. This album received a Premio da Musica Brasileira award for Best Instrumental CD.  She has also performed multiple times in Brazil with some of Rio de Janeiro's top musicians at jazz venues TribOz and Santo Scenarium. Her newest recording, Vida. Arte. Amor. (Mayimba Jazz)  was produced and recorded in Rio de Janeiro as well.

 

A multi-instrumentalist, Dreyer is in great demand as a sideperson. She has performed with noted musicians such as pianist Dom Salvador, with whom she performed in Rio de Janiero at the Copafest, Antonio Adolfo, Marcos Silva, Dr. Billy Taylor, Walter Bishop Jr., Danny Seraphine's BadAss Rockin Big Band, Mel Lewis, Robert Palmer, Nnenna Freelon, Lea Delaria,  Leny Andrade, Portinho, Helcio Milito, saxophonist/author James McBride, as well as many others.  Dreyer has appeared with various ensembles at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Village Vanguard, 7th Ave. South, S.O.B.’s, the Hartford Jazz Festival, and the Savannah Jazz Festival, the Vail Jazz festival, as well as tours of Europe and Japan. She has performed with her group, Laura Dreyer & The Manhattan/Rio Connection, at many jazz venues and festivals throughout the U.S.

 

Dreyer has a Bachelor of Arts degree from SUNY Empire State College, where she received a SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence, and was also a scholarship student at the acclaimed Berklee College of Music. Dreyer studied with noted music educators Andy McGee, Joe Viola, and John LaPorta. In addition, she took private lessons with saxophone greats Joe Henderson and Joe Lovano, composers Lyle Mays and Jim McNeely, and jazz pianist Dennis Kaufman. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded Laura three grants: one in performance and two in professional jazz study/composition. She participated in the BMI Jazz Composer's Workshop conducted by composer/trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Four of her songs have received honorable mention in Billboard Magazine's songwriting contests. Additionally, Laura was awarded two grants from The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council to produce a live concert which featured The New York Brazilian Jazz Funk Project. Laura's music was recently profiled on EBD Rádios in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia.

 

Laura was a founding member and contributing arranger for the big band DIVA. She remained with the ensemble for six years, playing both lead alto and tenor. With DIVA, she performed at Tavern on the Green, annual conferences for the International Association of Jazz Educators, New York’s famed Blue Note jazz club, The Kennedy Center, and such prestigious festivals as Newport, Montreal, Pori, and Berlin. Since Diva accompanied a wide range of solo artists, Dreyer also had wonderful opportunities to perform with major talents such as Rosemary Clooney, Dave Brubeck, Joe Williams, Jack Jones, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Rebecca Parris, Maurice Hines, Diane Schuur, Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, and many others.

 

Dreyer is very active as a music educator, having served on the faculties of Hoff-Barthelson Music School, Church St. School for Music and Art, Jamey Aebersold Jazz Clinics, Cazadero Music and Arts Camp, and Jazz Camp West. She is currently on the faculty of Léman Conservatory, The New York Pops PopsEd Program, and Riverdale Country School. Laura was a featured performer and educator in Busan, South Korea at The Friends of Music in Korea Music Festival and  regularly conducts clinics and workshops at high schools and colleges which have included The California Jazz Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, Portland State University, The University of Reno, Nevada, and the Jazz Improv Convention. Dreyer was a featured columnist in Saxophone Journal for five years, and has written for various other music publications including Jazz Improv Magazine, and Sax on the Web.