Andrea Wolper will showcase her brand of jazz during a performance on Aug. 2 at Vic’s Jazz Loft, located at The Stabin Museum on West Broadway in Jim Thorpe.

The New York City singer, composer, improviser and arranger — making her Vic’s debut — released “Wanderlust,” her fourth album as a leader, in April.

“It took me much longer than I wanted to get back into the studio to make that recording,” said Wolper, who dropped her third album, “Parallel Lives,” in 2011. “I’m happy how it turned out and grateful for the response it’s gotten from reviewers and music lovers.”

Aside from gigs and recording, Wolper offers singing lessons, clinics, and songwriting and improvisation classes. She taught her first classes in South Africa and Germany, later adding the California Jazz Conservatory, other schools and the JazzVoice.com platform to her resume.

Previously, Wolper served as International Women in Jazz president and on the advisory board of the now-defunct Jazz Vocal Coalition. She also created and curated the “Why Not Experiment?” series at New York City’s short-lived WhyNot Jazz Room.

Wolper, who held a vocal chair in the Heavenly Big Band for 20 years, works as both a leader and side-person. She has appeared in clubs, such as the Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Birdland, Mezzrow, Zinc Bar and 55 Bar, the latter which shuttered in 2022.

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Wolper “was one of those kids born singing. I’d make up songs and put on little shows for my family.”

The vocalist, featured in Steve Yanow’s 2008 book “The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide,” grew up hearing different kinds of music, including jazz singers such as Anita O’Day and Ella Fitzgerald, plus some instrumentalists.

While drawn to jazz music, “my focus was on acting,” said Wolper, who left college to attend New York City’s Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. Like other actors, she auditioned, waited tables, took classes, worked in offices and, occasionally, acted.

Wolper, though, “wanted to do something more fulfilling, but the only skill I had was writing. Crazy as it may sound, I started doing freelance writing to ‘support’ my acting.”

At a certain point, Wolper — who has two books, numerous articles and published poems under her belt — “found myself at a fork in the road and stepped onto a path that led me to jazz. I felt like I’d found my place. There was no going back.”

With her creative focus shifting, Wolper immersed herself in the world of jazz. “I was gigging around town, singing standards, and I went into the studio to record some of those songs as a demo. I ended up with 10 tracks, which is enough for an album.”

Said album, Wolper’s eponymous debut, arrived in 1998. The standard repertoire, she said, “is so full of musically and emotionally rich material that I might have been happy spending my life only as an interpreter of those great songs.”

However, starting with 2005’s “The Small Hours,” Wolper added original music to the mix.

“To my surprise, singing jazz awakened in me the songwriter and arranger I hadn’t even known were there. If I’m any good as a songwriter, it’s because I’ve spent so much time with those beautifully crafted songs.”

For her Vic‘s debut, Wolper has put together a program of favorites specifically for the show. She plans to perform her version of singer-songwriter Abbey Lincoln’s “The Music is the Magic,” which appears on “Wanderlust,” and other songs from her recordings.

Fans should “expect to tap their toes, laugh, maybe even shed a tear or two,“ Wolper said.

Pianist/composer Steve Sandberg, who has played at Vic’s prior, and bassist/composer Ken Filiano will perform with Wolper in Jim Thorpe. Sandberg, a longtime friend of Wolper‘s, blends classical music, global music traditions and jazz improvisation.

Filiano, Wolper said, “is well-regarded in improvised music circles. In fact, he’s in such demand that he’s not always available for my gigs — even though he’s also my husband.”

A music career comes with a lot of challenges, though “there are also many highlights and unforgettable moments,” Wolper said. “I’ve had the opportunity to travel and meet people I wouldn’t otherwise meet. It’s a cliché, I suppose, but music does bring people together.”

As for advice Wolper would pass on to aspiring musicians, “really love music — value it, respect it, let it teach you about yourself and the world.

“With streaming platforms and AI devaluing music, I have no idea what a career might look like,” she continued. “But I do think that while we still have the chance to make unique, precious human music, we should do it.”