Andy Sugg is a Melbourne–based tenor and soprano saxophonist. His music explores contemporary post-Trane improvisation in original compositions written for a small group setting.
While firmly grounded in its stylistic time and place, the Andy Sugg Group plays music that has left home. It’s music in the moment, played by highly articulate musicians with something to say both as soloists and as members of a collective. The Group’s music embraces an eclectic range of compositional influences, which include contemporary jazz, funk, R&B and avant-pop. It’s Andy’s “blowing band”; a vehicle for extended improvisation in the best traditions of contemporary jazz.
The Group’s current album, Wednesdays at M’s, was recorded in New York City in 2016 with a stellar cast of expat and home-grown New York musicians, including Sean Wayland (piano), Nate Wood (drums) and Matt Clohesy (bass). The previous album, The Berlin Session, was recorded in Germany in 2011. It explores a more acoustic avant-garde setting and features Kate Kelsey-Sugg (piano), with Berliners Jan Leipnitz (drums) and Sean Pentland (bass). The Group’s earlier albums include, Brunswick Nights, recorded live in Melbourne, and After Utopia featuring New York saxophone legend David Liebman in his first recording with an Australian band over his thirty-year association with this country
