:: biographie ::
Long before Andy Middleton won First
Prize, Best Soloist and Best Arrangement Awards at the 13th Europe Jazz
Contest in 1991, he was garnering attention from his elders and peers.
He has worked as a sideman with Lionel Hampton, Bob
Mintzer, Randy Brecker and Maria Schneider,
among many others, who were drawn to his imaginative, sincere, lyrical
and adventurous solos which never resort to cliché or empty virtuosic
display.
As a leader he has had the great pleasure to record
with jazz greats Joey Calderazzo (Acid Rain, Owl/EMI
France), Renee Rosnes (Terra Infirma, Owl/EMI France),
Dave Holland and Ralph Towner (Nomad’s
Notebook, Intuition) and with Kenny Wheeler, Reinventing
the World (Intuition), a lament to the world’s threatened environment.
Reinventing the World firmly establishes Middleton as a musician of extraordinary
sensitivity, ability and talent, both as a composer and a performer.
As a member of the eclectic band The Fensters
Andy recorded 2 acclaimed CDs - Jazz Music Vol. I for Arta Records in
1991, and Jazz Music, Vol. X for A-Records in 1996. He has toured Europe
extensively, performing at many of the major jazz festivals and in clubs
in almost every European country. Andy’s new book, Melodic Improvising
(Advance Music, 2005) is a guide/playalong CD that offers numerous approaches
to developing a strong sense of melodic invention. He has been a regular
contributor to Jazz Player and recorded an improvisation Masterclass CD
for the Jan/Feb 2002 issue of Saxophone Journal.
Andy is a highly regarded university and high school
jazz clinician, presenting workshops and performing as a guest artist
and conductor throughout the United States and Europe. He is also artistic
director of the Poysdorf Jazz and Wine Summer jazz workshop, and maintains
an active roster of students in his private studio practice.
Middleton was awarded a highly prestigious composition
grant from Chamber Music America’s New Works: Creation and Presentation
Program in 2004, a National Endowment for the Arts Performance Grant in
1996, and grants from the Fund for US Artists at International Festivals
in 1992, 1993, and 2003.
In the words of master saxophonist, composer and educator
David Liebman: “Andy Middleton represents the
best of a new generation of jazz musicians.”
Andy Middleton
andymiddleton@earthlink.net
www.andymiddleton.com
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