Tommy Andrews


 

SELECTED WORK

 

BBC Big Band • McFly • X Factor • Britain’s Got Talent • BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra • Royal Scottish National Orchestra  •  RTÉ Symphony Orchestra • BBC National Orchestra of Wales • Jacob Collier • London City Big Band • London Jazz Orchestra • Syd Lawrence Orchestra • Howard Goodall • John Barrowman • Sheridan Smith • Steve Sidwell • Mike Batt • John Rutter • Hannah Waddingham • Ghostpoet • Izzy Bizu • Rebel Wilson • Jay McGuiness • Peter Stark • Sir John Dankworth • Cleo Laine • Colin Metters • Victoria Wood • Fleur East • Evelyn Glennie • Derek Watkins • Claire Martin • Jonathan Del Mar • Mark Lockheart • Ivo Neame • Tom Green Septet • London Jazz Orchestra • Matt Ford • Anna Jane Casey • Samantha Spiro • Andrew Cottee • Joe Stilgoe

 

MUSICAL THEATRE

 

Guys and Dolls (West End – Phoenix Theatre)  •  Dreamgirls (West End – Savoy Theatre) •  Big - The Musical (West End - The Dominion)  •  Sunset Boulevard (West End - Savoy Theatre) • Sinatra: A Man and his Music (West End – The Palladium)  •  Elf: The Musical (West End – The Dominion)  •  Guys and Dolls (London - The Bridge Theatre)  •  White Christmas (West End - The Dominion) • The Spongebob Musical: Live on Stage (TV/Nickolodeon) • Five Guys Named Moe (Marble Arch Theatre)  •  Big – The Musical (UK/Ireland Tour)  •  Avenue Q (UK Tour)  •  Funny Girl (UK Tour)  •  The Last Tango (UK Tour)  •  The Midnight Gang (Chichester Festival Theatre)  •  The Thing About Men (London King’s Head Theatre)  •  Oliver!  •  Follies  •  42nd Street  •  Calamity Jane  •  Me And My Girl  •  Crazy For You  •  The Drowsy Chaperone  •  Kiss Me Kate  •  South Pacific  •  Carousel  •  Hello Dolly  •  Oklahoma  •  Mame  •  Titanic The Musical  •  Jesus Christ Superstar  •  The Mikado

 

OTHER PRODUCTIONS

 

‘Accentuate the Positive’ (London Palladium)  •  ‘Moulin Rouge’ (Café De Paris)  •  ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ (The Roundhouse)  •  ‘Grateful’ (Cadogan Hall)  •  ‘Band Of Brothers’ (Royal Festival Hall)  •  ‘It’s Comin’ on Christmas’ (Cadogan Hall)  •  ‘Make Your Own Kind of Christmas’ (Cadogan Hall)  •  ‘Agitpop’ (Cadogan Hall/Snape Maltings)  •  ‘Tinsel Town’ (The Troxy)

 

SELECTED TV WORK

 

X Factor  •  Masters of the Air (Apple TV+) • Succession (HBO) • Life after Life (BBC) • GMTV • Howard Goodall’s 20th Century Greats  •  Dragon’s Den • Text Santa (ITV) (With McFly) • The Spongebob Musical: Live on Stage (TV/Nickolodeon)

 

LIVE/STUDIO RECORDING

 

‘A Moment of Madness’ – Izzy Bizu (Epic Records)  •  X Factor Live 2014/2015  •

 Britain’s Got Talent  •  ‘The Crux’ – Tommy Andrews Quintet (Jellymould Jazz)  •

 ‘Big: The Musical’ – UK Cast Recording  •  ‘What Part of Hamfatter Do You Not Understand?’ – Hamfatter  •  ‘Cassiopeia’ – Hamfatter  •  ‘The Girl I Love’ – Hamfatter  •  ‘Accentuate The Positive’ – London Gay Men’s Chorus  •  ‘Dreaming of Peggy Lee’ – One Big Mop Films  •  ‘Brighter Business’ – Khaki Films  •  ‘Baby Love’ – Petite Meller (Island Records)  •  Jazz Line-up (BBC Radio 3)  • A Very Merry Christmas (BBC Radio Scotland)

 

 

PRESS FOR ‘THE CRUX’

 

“With the release of his quintet’s debut album The Crux, saxophonist and clarinettist Tommy Andrews sets out his stall with great confidence…a great example of an emerging talent stretching his wings” - JazzUK


"[A] free-flowing, idiom-mingling debut…bridges the free-flowing yet methodical spontaneity of Lee Konitz, and the staccato, more mathematical methods of Steve Coleman and the M-base tradition. It's a smart, sophisticated debut from a UK newcomer with prospects." John Fordham, The Guardian

 

“Hotly tipped as a future jazz great.” Lorelei Reddin, The Daily Echo

 

“The Crux” is a highly promising début from an instrumentalist and composer we are surely destined to hear a lot more of. It’s an album that impresses in terms of its scope and of its leader’s maturity as both a musician and a writer. " Ian Mann, The Jazz Mann


“The Crux is a well-crafted album, with both writing and playing showing a mature combination of technical skill and a willingness to entertain.” – All About Jazz


“The vibe is infectious…spirited piano and unison guitar and sax lines making way for the leader’s aqueous soloing which cries out for extended, dramatic development in a live setting.” – AP Reviews

 

“Andrews’ music is as intelligent as the thoughts behind it…and, most important of all, it has an original and identifiable character all of its own. A thoroughly absorbing and pleasurable listen – a fine album indeed.” Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast

 

"[Tommy] is an intuitive improviser again like Speake, and his writing integrates group interplay with soloistic space so instinctively. Cerebral jazz that keeps you listening to reach the heart of the matter just as you guess Andrews intends." Stephen Graham, Marlbank

 

“I think The Crux is a fine debut album from the Tommy Andrews Quintet. It is a democratic album with contribution well-spread amongst talented band members who clearly work well together. This is an impressive first release that deserves committed listening time to fully appreciate the music.” Ian Maund, Sandy Brown Jazz Magazine

 

"Tommy has an ease that makes the sax an extension of his physical body. He breathes/it breathes, and melodiously so." Debbie Burke, Jazz Author

 

 

 

 

PRESS (LIVE)

 

"Cool and contained...His three pieces from the band’s new album The Crux had attractively side-slipping harmonies. The shade of the late lamented trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler was never far away." Ivan Hewitt, The Telegraph.

 

 

 

Tommy Andrews is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator. Graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a First Class degree in Jazz saxophone, he is now sculpting a varied and busy career.

 

As a bandleader and composer, his first major mark on the U.K. contemporary jazz scene came about with his ‘smart, sophisticated’ (John Fordham, The Guardian) ‘mature’ (All About Jazz) ‘cinematic’ (AP Reviews) and ‘cool and collected’ (Ivan Hewitt, The Telegraph) album release ‘The Crux’ (2014, Jellymould Jazz). This debut release gained glowing press in the U.K. and U.S. along with national radio play, notably on Julian Joseph’s ‘Jazz Line Up’ for BBC Radio 3. The quintet promoted the release with two successful U.K. tours during 2014 culminating in the quintet’s debut London Jazz Festival performance.

 

Tommy has also performed as a sideman with many of the U.K.’s finest groups and eminent musicians. To date, he has worked with The BBC Big Band, The London Jazz Orchestra, The London City Big Band, Sir John Dankworth, Cleo Laine DBE, John Barrowman MBE, Howard Goodall CBE, Sheridan Smith, Jacob Collier, Steve Sidwell, Colin Metters, Julian Joseph, Mike Batt, Stan Sulzmann, Evelyn Glennie DBE, Derek Watkins, John Rutter CBE, Mark Lockheart, Ivo Neame, the Tom Green Septet and Claire Martin.

 

Tommy also thrives on commercial and popular music ventures. To date, he has performed with McFly, toured with John Barrowman, performed live for various artists on BBC2, ITV (GMTV and Text Santa) and Channel 4 (Dragon’s Den), twice appeared live on The X Factor Big Band Night plus arranging horn charts and performing with Ghostpoet.

 

Session and film work includes Izzy Bizu (Sony), The X Factor (Steve Sidwell), Britian’s Got Talent (Matthew Brind). Petite Meller (Island), Khaki Films (‘Brighter Business’ won the EVCOM screen awards Bronze award for Best Music), the musical film ‘Dreaming of Peggy Lee’, De Wolfe. 

 

Theatre credits include over 30 productions both in the West End and across the U.K. These include 'Dreamgirls' (West End), 'Guys and Dolls' (West End), 'Elf: The Musical' (West End), 'Sinatra: A Man and his Music' (West End), 'Funny Girl' (UK Tour), 'Big: The Musical' (West End and UK/Ireland Tour), 'Five Guys Named Moe' (West End), ‘The Last Tango’ (UK Tour), 'The Midnight Gang' (Chichester Festival Theatre) and 'The Thing About Men' (London - King's Head Theatre.)

 

Tommy has performed at some of the U.K.’s most prestigious venues, including Ronnie Scott’s, Buckingham Palace, the Purcell Room, the London Palladium, the Royal Festival Hall, the Vortex, the Cadogan Hall, the 606, Pizza Express Dean Street, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, St. John Smith’s Square, the Wigmore Hall, the Roundhouse, the SSE Hydro Arena, LSO St. Luke’s, and Symphony Hall.

 

Tommy is also an experienced educator, holding a 3 day Saxophone and Clarinet position at King’s College School (The Times Secondary School of the Year 2014), as well as freelance coaching all over the U.K. including The Purcell School, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Barbican Centre, IMPULSE (with Alison Cox OBE) Eltham College, Ravenswood School and on the Music Makers Summer courses.

 

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