Andy Clausen is a New York-based trombonist, composer, producer, and educator.
A graduate of The Juilliard School, Andy served as principal conductor and Artistic Director for Jazz at New York Youth Symphony from 2016-2023, and in 2021 joined the faculty of The New School as an Artist in Residence and professor of trombone and composition.
As a composer, Andy has worked in a variety of formats, from orchestral and large ensemble commissions, classical and jazz chamber music projects, as well as numerous film, television, radio, and podcast productions. For more info, see projects.
An in-demand collaborator across genres, Andy has performed, recorded, and arranged for for artists including:
Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Aaron Dessner, Big Red Machine, Joanna Newsom, Common, Big Thief, Feist, A$AP Ferg, Muzz, Remi Wolf, Anaïs Mitchell, Aoife O’Donovan, Haley Heynderickx, Vieux Farka Touré, Wynton Marsalis, Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Frank Wess, Gerald Wilson, Bill Frisell, Kurt Elling, Joe Lovano, Theo Bleckmann, Kate Davis, Celisse Henderson, Nico Muhly, Maria Schneider, Dave Douglas, Wayne Horvitz, Conrad Tao, Gabriel Kahane, John Zorn, and The American Brass Quintet. For more info, see discography.
Andy has appeared at such wide-ranging venues as Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks, Coachella, The Kennedy Center, Newport Folk Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, SF Jazz, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Pitchfork Music Festival, Radio City Music Hall, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and NPR Tiny Desk.
Andy is a founding member of acclaimed new music brass quartet The Westerlies. The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues and projects with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along. “Skilled interpreters who are also adept improvisers” (NPR’s Fresh Air), The Westerlies explore jazz, roots, and chamber music influences to create the rarest of hybrids: music that is both "folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” (NPR Music).
Since their founding in 2012, The Westerlies have produced a prolific and critically acclaimed body of chamber music recordings: their 2014 debut, Wish the Children Would Come On Home: The Music of Wayne Horvitz, a 2016 double-CD The Westerlies, the 2020 release, Wherein Lies the Good, their 2021 collaboration with vocalist Theo Bleckmann, This Land, and numerous additional digital releases, live recordings, and collaborations through their label Westerlies Music.
A passionate educator Andy has taught masterclasses at Yale, The Colburn School, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, The New School, University of Maryland, and University of Washington, as well as hundreds of public schools across the country.
Andy is a Conn-Selmer, Eventide Audio, and Moog Artist. He lives in Fort Greene Brooklyn with his wife Rachel. Aside from music, he enjoys cooking, biking, walking, travel, and photography.
For more information, see:
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Projects
Discography
Film & Media Scoring
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TOUR DATES
September 12, 2025 • Boscawen, NH @ Avaloch Farm
September 18, 2025 • Little Rock, AR @ ACANSA Arts Festival
September 20, 2025 • Utica, NY @ Munson
November 1, 2025 • Machias, ME @ Collins Center for the Arts
November 2, 2025 • Orono, ME @ Collins Center for the Arts
November 14, 2025 • New London, CT @ Connecticut College
November 17, 2025 • New York, NY @ The New School
December 5, 2025 • Seattle, WA @ Emerald City Music
February 20, 2026 • Overland Park, KS @ Johnson County Community College
March 14, 2026 • San Francisco, CA @ SFJAZZ
THE WESTERLIES
Over the past fifteen years, The Westerlies have served as high emissaries of a genre-agnostic musical language that upends presumptions of the brass tradition. The group's acclaimed work in contemporary classical, jazz, and the modern American songbook, along with indie-folk collaborations with Fleet Foxes, Aoife O’Donovan, and Haley Heynderickx, has cemented The Westerlies among the most adventurous and versatile instrumental groups working today.
From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues and projects with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along. Formed in 2011, the self-described “accidental brass quartet” takes its name from the prevailing winds that travel from the West to the East. “Skilled interpreters who are also adept improvisers” (NPR’s Fresh Air), The Westerlies explore jazz, roots, and chamber music influences to create the rarest of hybrids: music that is both "folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” (NPR Music).
Tom Huizenga | November 2, 2016 - Calling themselves "an accidental brass quartet," the members of The Westerlies, like the prevailing winds, blew east to Ne...
The ensemble has produced three critically acclaimed albums of genre-defying chamber music: its 2014 debut, Wish the Children Would Come On Home: The Music of Wayne Horvitz (Songlines), a 2016 double-CD of primarily original compositions, The Westerlies (Songlines), and their recent 2020 release, Wherein Lies the Good (Westerlies Records). Sought-after collaborators, The Westerlies are also featured on recordings by Fleet Foxes (Nonesuch), Vieux Farka Touré (Six Degrees Records), Common (Lakeshore) and Dave Douglas (Greenleaf).
For more information visit The Westerlies’ website, facebook, instagram, twitter, or youtube.
THE WISHBONE SUITE
Andy’s evening length composition “The Wishbone Suite” was commissioned by King County 4Culture, and recorded for Table & Chairs Music in 2011. The 19-movement suite for chamber jazz ensemble of clarinet, accordion, piano, trombone and drums embodies Andy’s playful and vivid musical outlook. In the jazz tradition, compositionally crafted folk-like motifs act as springboards for the ensemble’s improvised material. While the traditional concept of the jazz solo is seldom present in Andy’s works, improvisatory counterpoint and conversations abound in his music, creating innovative opportunities for his band-mates to assert their personal voices.
Andy Clausen Wishbone Project Live at Blue Whale Andy Clausen - Trombone, Composer Ivan Arteaga - Clarinet Aaron Otheim - Piano Gus Carns - Piano Chris Icasi...
Praise for The Wishbone Suite:
“Music for a clutch of hometown peers; its sprightly chamber-jazz aesthetic, with a palette including accordion and clarinet, revealed his admiration for the likes of John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet. Aglow with youthful enthusiasm but also extremely savvy, that album squared with my initial impressions of Clausen.” - Nate Chinen, Jazz Times
“Brilliant release by trombonist Clausen…finds a way to fuse these disparate musicians and their seemingly ill-fitting instruments into an alluring, whimsical, and just-plain-cool mix of jazz, classical, and experimental music. Challenging music that doesn’t shy away from also being pretty. Pick of the Week.” - Dave Sumner, eMusic
SHUTTER
SHUTTER is a chamber ensemble dedicated to multi-media installations that combine composition, improvisation and photography.
These photographs represent some of the most vivid and inspiring moments from my travels between 2012 and 2013,all shot using a 1970’s Nikkormat FT 35mm camera given to me by my mother.
Each composition was created from my first visceral reaction to the corresponding photograph, often on the same day I received the photos back from the development lab.
I humbly offer these images and sounds as a reflection of the beauty, character and mystery of these places.
The Split Stream Big Band
Outside of his position as Artistic Director for Jazz at New York Youth Symphony, Andy has also led his own “Split Stream Big Band” since 2009. A stylistically flexible 10-15 piece ensemble, the group has premiered over 20 original works by Clausen, inspired by the orchestrations of Gil Evans, the rhythmic cycles of Gamelon music, and the harmony of Igor Stravinsky.
Winning the Gerald Wilson Award for Jazz Composition from The Monterey Jazz Festival, Clausen’s compositions and his “Split Stream Big Band” have been hailed by the New York Times as “sleek, dynamic large-group jazz, a whirl of dark-hued harmony and billowing rhythm…The intelligent sheen of Mr. Clausen’s writing was as striking as the composure of his peers…It was impressive, and not just by the yardstick of their age.”
Concert Works
Andy has written numerous concert works and arrangements for a variety of occasions, most recently “This Is Water,” a three movement orchestral suite commissioned by The Seattle Collaborative Orchestra.
He has also written commissions for The Seattle Chamber Players, flutist Paul Taub.
FILM & MEDIA SCORING
An active composer for clients in film, television, radio, and advertising, Andy draws upon a diverse musical background in jazz, classical, pop, folk music, and electronic sound design to create unique sonic landscapes for each project. He enjoys working with directors and producers to realize their visions and support their stories through custom music.
Andy maintains a production facility in Brooklyn, NY and is fully equipped to compose, record, mix, and master projects of any scope and style.
Recent clients include NBC, MSNBC, The Michelle Obama Podcast, The New York Times, Bloomberg TV, KPCC, Carnegie Corporation, The Whitney Museum, Dell, Morgan Stanley, Mizuho Americas, Freedom House, NPR, and Blue Chalk Media.
FEATURE FILMS
Heaven: Can You Hear Me? (2020)
Heaven: Can You Hear Me explores the solidarity and sisterhood of a group of Black women in Philadelphia whose lives have been changed forever by gun violence.
I’ll See You Around (2018)
Lucas, an everyman, navigates complicated personal relationships in the context of a drug crisis that grips the nation and his own family, now and in the past. Will he be able to commit to those close to him or will his commitments weigh him down?
The Iron Triangle (2017)
In a bustling industrial community in Queens, New York, immigrant small business owners band together to fight a development plan that would bulldoze their slice of the American Dream. Their story launches an investigation into New York City’s history as the front line of deindustrialization, urban renewal, and gentrification.
Deadman’s Barstool (2017)
A murder-mystery comedy feature that revolves around the dubious death of a famed televangelist & the oddball personalities out to get his fortune.
5 Doctors (2016)
Convinced that he's dying from a bizarre array of symptoms, struggling comedian Spencer Kaminsky decides to visit his five childhood doctors in a single day, all while desperately trying to avoid the friends and family that he left behind.
TELEVISION
Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- For its 85th anniversary, Bloomberg Businessweek chronicles the most disruptive ideas of the past 85 years. In 1984, the world was introduced to the Apple Macintosh personal computer with an advertisement that ran during Super Bowl XVIII. The spot helped define Apple as a brand and changed the Super Bowl into a must-see media event.
Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- For its 85th anniversary, Bloomberg Businessweek chronicles the most disruptive ideas of the past 85 years. In 1972, Atari releases Pong, the video game that pioneered an entire industry. (Video by Brandon Lisy, Justin Beach. Music by Andy Clausen) (Source: Bloomberg)
April 6 -- At BMW's Research and Innovation Center in Munich, an experimental high-tech safety system is under development. It's called 360-degree collision avoidance and it can prevent a car from crashing into any stationary object. The precise laser sensors and sophisticated algorithms involved could be a step towards a totally self-driving car - and a future without traffic accidents.
April 13 -- Ecovative Design has made a mission of replacing synthetic plastic polymers with natural mushroom based polymers. After disrupting the packaging industry with a line of fully biodegradable mushroom packaging, they are now setting their sights on replacing manufactured wood products.
March 9 -- Today's dairy farm is a far cry from what ads and movies would have you believe. Cows go to robotic milking stations on their own, where they are identified, milked, and sent back out to the barn until the next milking. They are even fed by a Volkswagen-sized robot called the Vector.
Feb. 23 -- Fish farms have a big problem: They've been making feed out of sardines and anchovies from the oceans, a source that could be depleted within a few decades.
SHORT FILMS
With thousands of bridges in New York State deemed structurally deficient, there are two choices: repair or rebuild. The 60-year-old Tappan Zee Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge are the latest examples.
New York City has one of the largest sanitation departments in the world, but, with declining landfills, we follow waste from sidewalks and garbage trucks to treatment facilities and upstate farms. Subscribe on YouTube: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n New York City has the most complex waste management system in North America.
The Upper East Side is at last seeing progress on its new subway line. For the residents and businesses in the area affected by this vast construction project, it has been an exercise in endurance.
To celebrate Freedom House’s 75th anniversary, Blue Chalk traveled to Mexico and Kenya to film a short documentary profiling human rights defenders.
In Monterrey, Mexico, we followed Sister Consuelo Morales, who has dedicated her life to seeking justice for Mexico's Disappeared. In Nairobi, Kenya, we followed a photojournalist and activist, Boniface Mwangi, who fights for the respect of human rights and freedom of expression.
Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world, has partnered with Morales and Mwangi in order to amplify their voices and support them in their very important work.
Although Morales and Mwangi are working in completely different environments, they are both taking a stand against injustice and are empowering people around them to reclaim their most basic human rights.
Blue Chalk worked with the Carnegie Corporation of New York to produce a short film on the pressing issue of nuclear security.
The film is part of an online interactive on the Carnegie website and was screened at Carnegie’s kickoff event leading up to the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, hosted by the Obama Administration in Washington, D.C.
Greg Moyer, Executive Producer
Rob Finch, Director
Megumi Nishikura, Producer
Jason Greene, Director of Photography
Rob Finch, Editor
James Fenner/Spinning Yarn, Illustrations
Andy Clausen, Original Music Composition
Sarah Nathan, Narration
Sarah Nathan, Assistant Producer
Wendy Faunce, Production Assistant
"First Step" is the story of Kajal who was born with the crippling deformity, clubfoot. She couldn't walk or run...and even had trouble standing. Born to a poor family in India, Kajal waited 9 years before she was lucky to receive free treatment from one of FirstStep's partner hospitals in Delhi.
Blue Chalk worked with Pearson Education to create a series of marketing videos that highlight stories of people who have overcome various barriers to getting an education.
In so many conversations about education, one factor is overlooked—the important role a young person’s self-esteem plays in their motivation to learn.
In our second film in the series, we meet Sanah, an impressive young woman who, inspired by her mother’s struggle to get an education in Pakistan, overcame incredible barriers to pursue a dream and eventually lead others to think differently about their self-worth.
This film was released by Pearson on March 8, 2018, to celebrate International Women's Day.
Rob Finch, Creative Director
Natalie Taylor, Director/Producer
Léo Hamelin, Contributing Producer
Jamie Francis, Director of Photography
Michael Potter, Director of Photography
Chenney Chen, Assistant Producer
Jim Baileys, Sound Recordist
Jesse Crowell, Editor
Andy Clausen , Original Music Composition
It is the gold standard of urban water supplies. The New York City watershed was assembled during the 20th century, and the system's underground aqueducts are considered an engineering marvel.
With more than 100 miles of steam piping and nearly 2,000 buildings served, New York's steam system is the largest in the world. Produced by: Melanie Burford and Greg Moyer Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/1ycaNts Subscribe to the Times Video newsletter for free and get a handpicked selection of the best videos from The New York Times every week: http://bit.ly/timesvideonewsletter Subscribe on YouTube: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n Watch more videos at: http://nytimes.com/video --------------------------------------------------------------- Want more from The New York Times?
Two years after Hurricane Sandy flooded tunnels and the subway system, New York infrastructure is still recovering. Produced by: Greg Moyer and Melanie Burford Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/1tzlapJ Subscribe to the Times Video newsletter for free and get a handpicked selection of the best videos from The New York Times every week: http://bit.ly/timesvideonewsletter Subscribe on YouTube: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n Watch more videos at: http://nytimes.com/video --------------------------------------------------------------- Want more from The New York Times?
T Brand Studio, the custom content studio within the advertising department of The New York Times, asked Blue Chalk Media to produce a series of films for their client Dell Inc. that profiles cities on Dell’s list of “future-ready economies,” and how each city is innovating for a dynamic and resilient tomorrow.
For this film, Blue Chalk Media explores how innovators in the Twin Cities are quietly creating a diverse and thriving economy by embracing inclusivity. A metropolis that is home to large immigrant populations, a supportive arts scene and the densest medical technology hub in the world, the Twin Cities sees the potential in creating connections and goes out of their way to ensure everyone has the potential to contribute to the city’s future.
The film is part of a paid post titled, “Future Ready Economies” featured on the NYTimes.com. The post includes an interactive list of the world’s most “future ready” cities as defined by a Harvard/MIT economic study that was commissioned by Dell.
View the interactive paid post on The New York Times.
Greg Moyer, Executive Producer
Sydney Levin, Executive Producer
Rob Finch, Director, Camera
Natalie Taylor, Producer
Adam Loeb, Producer
Jamie Francis, Director of Photography
Dan Quintero, Editor
Andy Clausen, Original Music
Scottie Tuska, Production Assistant
View the interactive paid post on The New York Times http://nyti.ms/1PQlnQk.
Blue Chalk worked with The Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA) to tell the story of a robotics program in tech-centric, Hillsboro, Oregon.
Team Shockwave is one of the most successful and competitive robotics programs in the state and has qualified for the FIRST Championship Robotics Competition in St. Louis, Missouri, four years in a row.
However, the program’s impact can be measured far beyond the trophies and competition points the team collects—it's also a safe and inspiring place where all students can belong.
Blue Chalk spent time with the team throughout their competition season, from learning about the year’s robotics challenge to building their robot and taking it to compete throughout the state, and learned how an interest in robotics is leading students on exciting career paths.
This is the fifth of a series of films created for OSBA's "The Promise of Oregon" 2016 campaign. These videos are designed to encourage schools and the public to “dream bigger” about what is possible for Oregon’s schools.
Created by Blue Chalk Media
bluechalk.com
Creative Director, Rob Finch
Producer, Julianne Parker
Director of Photography, Jamie Francis
Director of Photography, Jason Greene
Director of Photography, Rob Finch
Editor, Rob Finch
Editor, Madeline Lear
Editor, Julianne Parker
Colorist, Jason Greene
Music , 2-Track Mind
Today's world is ruled by hybrid thinkers and doers. See our different approach to financial services and how we bring it all together for our clients. http://www.mizuhoamericas.com
ELLE a short film
Her dreams of law school are threatened when Alice, a college freshman, turns down a date with a classmate.
Directed by Daniel F. Pfeffer
Produced by Alexandra Brown and Sasha John
Written by Kevin Contento
Cinematography by Erlendur Sveinsson
starring
Alison Jaye Horowitz
LA Shorts Fest 2016
Reykjavík International Film Festival 2016
Her dreams of law school are threatened when Alice, a college freshman, turns down a date with a classmate.
Inspired by a true story.
onelovepictureclassics.com/
onelovepictureclassics.tumblr.com/
facebook.com/elleashortfilm/
OLPC presents
RADIO / PODCASTS
The Big Burn (2022)
From KPCC / LAist Studios
Mother Country Radicals (2022)
From Crooked Media / Audacy
How To Citizen with Baratunde (2021)
from iHeart Media
The Michelle Obama Podcast (2020)
From Higher Ground Audio / Dustlight Productions
The Big One: Your Survival Guide (2019)
A six-part series from NPR / KPCC on the looming San Andreas earthquake.
Contact:
(206) 306-4992
ajclausen@gmail.com
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, or Soundcloud
For The Westerlies:
Middleton Arts Management
david@middletonartsmanagement.com
Tel: 401-592-0320
Fax: 401-592-0321
