Allison Wheeler Quartet: Winterspring feat. Alex Sjobeck

Tue, Feb 24

So excited to welcome Allison Wheeler for the first time to Christo's! She is on tour from the from the Czech Republic with her quartet featuring Alex Sjobeck on piano, Robert Rodriguez on double bass and Petr Nohavica on drums. Allison Wheeler, vocalist & songwriter from Salinas, California, is a “composer of great sonic imagination” (Peter Quinn, Jazzwise UK) and a versatile voice with a love for creative challenge. After being named Undergraduate Vocal Soloist of the Year by Downbeat magazine in 2018, she relocated to Prague, where she has broken free from her straight-ahead roots and is forging her own path. Her debut album Winterspring was released on the London-based label Ubuntu Music in 2022 and was hailed as “one of the strongest collections of songs in the last few years” (Jan Hocek, JazzPort). She cites influences such as Regina Spektor, Fiona Apple and Gillian Welch and has been compared by critics to artists such as Becca Stevens (Jazz Times) and Gretchen Parlato (Jazzwise UK) — yet she creates a world uniquely her own. Her music seamlessly crosses genre lines, drawing influence from her jazz roots, love of bluegrass/folk tradition, and her talent in the visual arts to construct a realm of imagination fueled by improvisation, nostalgia and a love for impressionism. Growing up on the California coast, Wheeler was involved in the Monterey Jazz Festival’s education program and appeared on the festival with their honors vocal group in 2014 and 2015. She moved on to study jazz voice at the University of Northern Colorado with Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh. At UNCO, she was a part of their premiere vocal jazz ensemble “Vocal Lab,” with whom she won three graduate-category Downbeat awards and performed with artists such as the New York Voices, Aubrey Logan, and Vertical Voices, and also sang on the international Jazz Education Network (JEN) conferences in 2016 and 2018. Since moving to Europe, she has notably served on faculty at the Czech Jazz Workshop (2020, 2021), Lomnice Choir Workshop (2024, 2025) and appeared with Lizz Wright at the Prague Sounds Festival (2021). Her well-received debut as a bandleader, Winterspring (2022, Ubuntu Music), weaves tales of love, light and loneliness into a unique blend of styles driven by sweeping vocals and colorful accompaniment. The album is a glimpse into Wheeler’s inner world, brought beautifully to life with the help of musicians Daniel Bulatkin (piano/keyboards), Max Makagonov (double bass), Petr Nohavica (drums) and guests David Dorůžka (guitar) and Luboš Soukup (soprano sax & clarinet). Currently, she is working on a second album with new instrumentation.