Andy Brown is a guitarist based in Chicago. 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 weekly at Andy’s Jazz Club and performs with his group regularly at Winter’s Jazz Club.

As a sideman he has performed with internationally known jazz musicians including Scott Hamilton, Howard Alden, Harry Allen, Warren Vaché, Ken Peplowski, Hod O’Brien, Anat Cohen, Michael Feinstein and many others. 

His love of great tunes as well as accompanying skills have made him a favorite with vocalists in the Chicago area. He also had the good fortune to accompany Barbra Streisand when she appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009.

Andy has made many festival appearances around the world including performances in Brazil, Europe and Canada. 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 the group entitled “Heavy Artillery” which received four stars in Downbeat Magazine and was featured in their annual Albums Of The Year issue. 

His latest CD is the critically acclaimed 2020 solo guitar album “Alone Time.” In 2016 Delmark released Andy’s quartet recording “Direct Call” and in 2015 they put out “Soloist,” Andy’s first solo guitar album. The CD release party for this recording was filmed and turned into a YouTube video (Andy Brown Solo at the Whiskey Lounge) and has been watched over 3 million times. It is viewed over 1,000 per day on YouTube!

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.