The Jazz Guitar of

Andy Brown

Biography

Andy Brown is a musician based in Chicago who specializes in what he calls “old-school jazz guitar.” Born in New York in 1975, he has played professionally for thirty years. He has had a varied performing career that has included stints in Cincinnati and New York City. He has been called a “superior mainstream guitarist” in Downbeat magazine.

Since coming to Chicago in 2003, Andy has been fortunate to work at many of the area's finest jazz venues with his own bands, as well as playing his unique brand of solo jazz guitar. He has backed visiting jazz names at places including the Jazz Showcase and Ravinia. Currently he plays solo guitar every Thursday at the Green Mill, leads his quartet every Sunday at Andy's Jazz Club and performs with his trio monthly at Winter’s Jazz Club.

As a sideman Andy has performed with internationally known jazz musicians including Scott Hamilton, Howard Alden, Harry Allen, Warren Vaché, Ken Peplowski, Hod O’Brien, Anat Cohen, John Pisano, Judy Carmichael, Rebecca Kilgore and many others.

Andy’s love of great tunes as well as accompanying skills have made him a favorite with vocalists. He had the good fortune to accompany Barbra Streisand when she appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009, and he has accompanied Michael Feinstein at Chicago’s famed Ravinia Festival. He performs often in the Chicago area with his wife, vocalist Petra van Nuis, most often in duo settings and in her seven piece traditional jazz band the Recession Seven.

Andy has made many festival appearances around the world including performances in Brazil, Canada and several European countries. In 2012, his trio was invited by the Chicago Mayor's office to perform for the Nobel Peace Prize dinner in Chicago where invited guests included U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, as well as the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Since 2009, Andy has co-led a two-guitar quartet with renowned guitarist Howard Alden. In 2013, Delmark Records released a CD of this group entitled Heavy Artillery which received four stars in Downbeat Magazine and was featured in their annual Albums Of The Year issue.

In 2015 Delmark issued Soloist, Andy’s first solo guitar album. The CD release party was filmed and turned into a YouTube video (Andy Brown Solo at the Whiskey Lounge) which has almost four million views. In 2016, Delmark released Andy’s quartet recording Direct Call. Andy’s latest critically acclaimed recordings are a second solo guitar album Alone Time (2020) and his quartet album Good Atmosphere (2023).

Andy had the good fortune to learn directly from several guitar masters, including Cal Collins, Ted Greene, and Howard Alden. His most important mentor was the late Kenny Poole, who called Andy his protégé.