Andy Clausen

Andy Clausen is a GRAMMY-nominated trombonist, composer, arranger, producer and educator. A sought-after touring and studio musician across genres, Andy has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Fleet Foxes, Aaron Dessner, Joanna Newsom, Feist, Sylvan Esso, Vieux Farka Touré, Celisse, John Zorn, Samora Pinderhughes, Dave Douglas, Haley Heynderickx, Aoife O’Donovan, Silvana Estrada, Caroline Shaw, Theo Bleckmann, Chris Thile, Nico Muhly, and Conrad Tao.

Andy is a founding member of The Westerlies, an acclaimed new music brass chamber ensemble with “a unique reputation for exploring the emotional textures of American music” (DownBeat). From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of projects with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along, creating music that is “folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” – NPR.

Andy has also gained stature as a bandleader for creative music with the albums The Wishbone Suite, Shutter Vols. 1 & 2, Few Ill Words: Solo Trombone at The TANK, Vol. 1, and Heart of Tones: Solo Trombone at The TANK, Vol. 2. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks, Coachella, Radio City Music Hall, the Kennedy Center, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, NPR Tiny Desk, Newport Folk Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Newport Classical Festival, FreshGrass, Pitchfork Music Festival, SFJAZZ, and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

In addition to his performance work, Andy is an active composer for film, television, and radio, contributing original music to NBC, MSNBC, Showtime, The Michelle Obama Podcast, PBS, NPR, The New York Times, Blue Chalk Media, the Whitney Museum, and Freedom House.

Andy is a graduate of The Juilliard School, and in 2021 joined the faculty at The New School as an artist-in-residence and professor of trombone and composition. From 2015–2023, Andy served as Artistic Director for Jazz at New York Youth Symphony, collaborating with guest artists including Maria Schneider, Rufus Reid, Matt Wilson, Ingrid Jensen, Ted Nash, Jim McNeely, Sean Jones, and more. Additionally, Andy works with thousands of students each year through The Westerlies’ educational initiatives, and has given masterclasses at Juilliard, Yale, Colburn, Northwestern, Manhattan School of Music, Boston Conservatory, and Michigan State University.

Andy is an endorsing artist of Conn-Selmer/King Trombones, Eventide Effects, and Moog Synthesizers. He lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, with his wife Rachel. Aside from music, he enjoys cooking, cycling, walking, travel, and photography.