Exciting trombonist, composer, and arranger Andy Hunter comes out of a lineage of study with Robin Eubanks (at Oberlin Conservatory) and Conrad Herwig (masters program at Rutgers University). Born and raised along the AuSable river in Grayling, Michigan (notably situated half way between the well-named cities of Paradise, Michigan and Hell, Michigan), he now lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is very busy on the salsa and jazz scene there, while also traveling frequently with bands that are based in New York. Recent distinctions include winning the 2006 Eastern Trombone Workshop's National Jazz Competition in Washington, D.C., the 2005 "Antti Rissanen International Jazz Trombone Competition" in Helsinke, Finland, the International Trombone Association's jazz trombone competition in 2002, the Detroit International Jazz Festival's Most Outstanding College Soloist award for 2001, and Downbeat Magazine's jazz composition competition in 1997. He was also a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Jazz competition in 2003. His performing, composing, and arranging can be heard on numerous recordings as both a leader and sideman with bands from Cleveland, New York, and Shanghai, including his new album, The Slow Road to Shanghai, released in 2005 in China.

Andy has been recognized for his solo work at the Tri-C Jazz Festival in Cleveland, the Elmhurst Jazz Festival in Chicago, the Notre Dame Jazz Festival, and at the Detroit International Jazz Festival. He has also performed at such diverse locations as the Copenhagen Jazz Festival in Denmark, the Sea Days Festival in Kotka, Finland, as well as the Lu Wan Qu and Hong Qiao jazz festivals in Shanghai, China. His musical projects frequently bring him to China, where Shanghai has become like a second home. Having lived there for several years, and done his undergraduate degree in Chinese language, he frequently acts as a liaison between musicians from the USA and China.

Andy considers the beginning of his professional musical experience to have been in Interlochen Arts Academy, where he spent his final two years of high school, and to really have flourished in Cleveland, where he was initiated into professional music with many of Cleveland¡¯s finest bands and musicians. For several years while living in Cleveland, he was able to help pass these experiences on to a younger generation as the jazz trombone instructor at Tri-C College. With greater frequency than ever before, he now gives clinics and lessons as a guest instructor at many diverse locations within the USA and abroad.