Andrew Speight

lto saxophonist Andrew Speight can bop with the best of them. Growing up in Sydney, Australia, his early exposure to jazz came from his father, a pianist who often accompanied touring American jazz artists and instilled in him a deep love of straight-ahead jazz. Andrew’s jazz epiphany occurred when he got to see Sonny Stitt perform live, and he’s never looked back. After touring with Nat Adderley, Joe Williams, and Louie Bellson, Andrew came to the U.S. in 1991 to compete in the prestigious Thelonius Monk International Saxophone Competition, where he was the only non-American finalist. Since then, Andrew has worked with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Milt Hinton, Branford Marsalis, Jimmy Cobb, and countless others in performances all over the world. These days, he is an invaluable asset to the Bay Area jazz scene and a professor of Jazz Studies at San Francisco State University and, of course, as one of the core faculty members at SJW.