Andy Hunter is an exciting, bold new voice on the New York music scene. A highly experienced leader and in-demand side man, he performs around the world with high profile artists such as the Mingus Big Band/Dynasty, Richard Bona, Nnenna Freelon, T.S. Monk’s tentet, and recently Dave Holland’s Big Band. Hunter is very active in New York with bands ranging from the Birdland Big Band or the Bill Lee Natural Spiritual Orchestra to several popular Cuban groups, Colombian folkloric, salsa and funk bands. He is a prolific composer and highly awarded soloist, with credits such as first prize in the 2002 International Trombone Association Jazz Competition, the 2005 Antti Rissanen International Jazz Competition in Helsinki Finland and the ETW national jazz trombone competition in Washington D.C. in 2006. He was also a popular finalist in the Thelonious Monk Jazz competition of 2003.
Originally from the small town of Grayling, Michigan (located, notably, half way between the uniquely named cities of Paradise, Michigan, and Hell, Michigan), Hunter has since lived in Cleveland and Shanghai, and since 2004 has called Brooklyn, New York home. As both a sideman and a leader, his performing, composing, and arranging can be heard on numerous recordings and in a wide variety of musical styles (see discography).
Over the past decade, an earnest desire to share the truly international music of jazz with wider and wider audiences has found him as an advisor and M.C. for jazz festivals in China, as a jazz educator on four continents, and as a host on Shanghai’s recently launched jazz station, Soulfire Radio. Recently he has been involved with growing frequency in teaching and and performing in South and Central America, in such countries as Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Panama. During the first half of this calendar year alone his music has brought him to India, Japan, Peru, Colombia, Morocco, Ghana, and about a dozen locations across the United States.
Some of the musicians he feels honored to have performed or recorded with include: The Saturday Night Live band, The Mingus Big Band, Mingus Dynasty and Mingus Orchestra, The Dave Holland Big Band, Richard Bona, T.S. Monk, The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Slide Hampton and the World of Trombones, The Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, The Drifters, Nnena Freelon, Billy Hart, Marcus Belgrave, Cui Jian, Dave Binney, Michael Mossman, Robin Eubanks, Conrad Herwig, Dave Kikoski, Monday Michiru, Alex Sipiagin, Gene Jackson, Jeff Tain Watts, Bill Lee, Ralph Bowen, Jonathan Blake, Frankie Negron, Peter Dominguez, John Fedchock, Leslie Gore, Terry Gibbs, Wendell Logan, Ernie Krivda, Nils Landgren, the Guy Lombardo Orchestra, The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Sam Moore (Sam and Dave), Dick Contino, Dennis Mackrel, Tito Nieves, Hugh Ragin, Adalberto Santiago, Yomo Toro, Greg Bandy, Donald Walden, and Dan Wall.
Andy Hunter holds a M.M. in Jazz from Rutgers university where he was a student of Conrad Herwig, a B.Mus. from Oberlin Conservatory where he studied with Robin Eubanks, and is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy. He also holds a B.A. in Chinese from Oberlin College.
