Andrew Stephens

Andrew Stephens returns to SJW as a member of the Mentor Fellowship program. He first taught in SJW’s acclaimed Giant Steps Big Band program, and now joins SJW’s summer jazz immersion programs for the first time this summer.

He’s a trumpeter and educator based in NYC since 2021. He is currently pursuing a masters at Juilliard, and performed Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall this February. Andrew has been working outside of school with Kaleidoscope, a group he formed with two fellow students, as well as touring with the Hot Sardines; he also recently recorded an album with Electroveesedstene, a project he co-leads with Ben Goldberg, which features Kenny Wollesen, Ryan Ferreira, Hamir Atwal, Kai Lyons, and Michael Coleman. 

Andrew was born in Sacramento and began playing at the age of 10, immediately interested in Louis Armstrong and traditional jazz, which was a strong part of the scene there. He moved to the Bay Area to get his BA in pure mathematics at UC Berkeley, and worked his way into the jazz scene outside of school. He was an instructor at Sonoma State University from 2018 until 2021, where he taught private lessons and led the university’s first early jazz ensemble for 2 semesters. In addition, he has taught at Stanford Jazz, the California Jazz Conservatory summer program, and the Teagarden Jazz Camp. He is the winner of the 2021 Ryan Anthony Memorial Trumpet Competition, and placed 2^nd in the 2019 Carmine Caruso Competition.