Andrew Tweed was born in 1963 in Northern Ireland and as a teenager he was lucky enough to receive free clarinet lessons from his local music service quickly working his way through various youth bands to reach principal clarinet in the South Ulster Youth Orchestra. Following a brief dalliance with engineering he auditioned successfully for Birmingham Conservatoire on clarinet. Here he had his first saxophone lessons and he subsequently swapped to this instrument for his final year of study simultaneously joining Saxtet on the tenor saxophone chair. Since 1988 Saxtet has taken him all round the UK, Europe, three times to the USA and a six-week world tour in between TV and radio appearances. Andy’s versatility has kept him in demand with a diversity of groups from The Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, CBSO, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, English Symphony Orchestra, London Musici (Ballet Rambert), The Pasadena Roof Orchestra and The Syd Lawrence Orchestra as well as performing regularly with Britain’s premier accordionist Karen Street.

He is also in great demand as a teacher with a busy programme at Birmingham Conservatoire and Wells Cathedral School. He has coached students to entry into nearly every music college in Britain. The rest of the time he fits in reviews for Music Teacher Magazine and produces CDs including both of Karen Street’s well-received CDs now released on his Big Shed Music label. His compositions are published by Saxtet Publications and Boosey & Hawkes and appear on the Associated Board syllabus. He was Artistic Director of the 2005 British Saxophone Congress and endorses Keilwerth Saxophones.