Draft:Andy Firth
Submission declined on 4 October 2026 by Equivalent-Text2598 (talk).
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
|  |
Andy Firth (born 1966) is an Australian woodwind artist, educator, and composer. Known for his performances on the clarinet and saxophone, Firth has performed internationally, including headlining at Carnegie Hall, and has received multiple civic and industry accolades, including the 2006 Australian MO Award for Best Jazz Instrumentalist.[1] As a prolific composer and recording artist, Firth has composed over 1,200 works and produced a catalogue of over 300 published educational and performance works distributed globally through major music publishers and has released 22 studio and live albums.
Career
[edit]Firth began his professional music career in Australia, developing a reputation as a musician across jazz, classical, and contemporary genres. Over his career, he has toured and performed alongside prominent international and Australian artists, including jazz trumpet virtuoso James Morrison and American jazz clarinetist Buddy DeFranco.[2][3] In 2008, Firth headlined a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City with DeFranco as his his special guest artist.[4]
As an educator and composer, Firth's instructional book series—including Play Clarinet with Andy Firth and Play Saxophone with Andy Firth—were picked up for global distribution by music publishers Boosey & Hawkes[5] and Hal Leonard.[6] His compositions and educational arrangements are frequently featured in the official performance syllabi for the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB).
In addition to his published literature, Firth contributed to influenced Australian music evaluation frameworks when he and his wife, Liz Firth, were commissioned by the Australian Guild of Music & Speech (AGMS)[7] to author and review its comprehensive clarinet and saxophone examination syllabi. Firth also designed and developed a dedicated AGMS Jazz Clarinet Syllabus to formally examine historical techniques spanning from Benny Goodman to Buddy DeFranco. His sheet music catalog is managed by his independent publishing house, Andy Firth Music.[8]
Firth also contributed as a session clarinetist to the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann’s 2008 drama film, Australia.[9] He is a designated Australian performing and endorsing artist for several global musical instrument manufacturers, including Buffet Crampon clarinets, Julius Keilwerth saxophones, D'Addario reeds, and Lomax Classic mouthpieces.[10]
Discography
[edit]Firth has released 22 albums throughout his career spanning jazz, swing, big band, and contemporary instrumental music. His most highly regarded releases include:
- Me, Myself & I (2000) – A recording featuring a 16-piece clarinet big band completely multi-tracked by Firth.[11]
- Live in Swingfield – A live performance capturing his traditional and contemporary swing repertoire.[12]
- Let There Be Firth- A live radio broadcast captured in 1993 and officially released in 2015.[13]
Awards and Recognition
[edit]- 1988: Awarded the South Australian Young Citizen's Award (as part of the regional Australia Day honours) for services to music.[14]
- 2002: Won the Screen Music Award (presented by APRA AMCOS) for Best Music for an Advertisement for the Visa "Dining Out" commercial (credited as Andrew Firth).[15]
- 2006: Won the Australian MO Award for Best Jazz Instrumentalist.
- 2013: Inducted into the South Australian Jazz Archive for his services to jazz music and education in Australia.
Published Educational Works
[edit]- Play Clarinet with Andy Firth (Boosey & Hawkes / Hal Leonard)
- Play Saxophone with Andy Firth (Boosey & Hawkes / Hal Leonard)
- Andy Firth: 3 Pieces for Solo Jazz Clarinet
References
[edit]- ↑ "The 31st Annual Australian Entertainment Mo Awards Registries". The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards Committee. 2006.
- ↑ "Andrew Firth: Outward Bound". Australian Jazz & Blues. 1 (6). 1994 – via Eric Myers Jazz Archive.
- ↑ "Sydney Opera House reveals summer program". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2020-11-02. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ "Carnegie Hall - Andy Firth, Clarinet". collections.carnegiehall.org. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ "Play Clarinet with Andy Firth - Andy Firth - Series". www.boosey.com. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ "Play Saxophone with Andy Firth Vol. 1". HalLeonardAustralia. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ "AGMS Our Examination Syllabi". www.agms.edu.au. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ "Andy Firth Music-The ONLY legal site for Andy Firth Music". Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ "Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ "Handcrafted Professional and Student Mouthpieces, and Ligatures – Lomax Classic". Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ "Moving Music - 31, January 2024". 89.7 Eastside FM. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
- ↑ Live in Swingfield - Album by Andy Firth | Spotify, 2010-01-16, retrieved 2026-10-03
- ↑ Let There Be Firth by Andy Firth on Apple Music, 2015-11-10, retrieved 2026-10-03
- ↑ Hough, David (1989-11-09). "A Clarinetist With a Magic About Him". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ "Screen Music Awards 2002". APRA AMCOS. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
Please delete the portions which were LLM-generated, and summarize in your own words a range of independent, reliable, published sources that discuss the subject. If you have used an LLM but you believe that your use is covered by one of the two exceptions (basic copyediting and translation between two languages in which you are fully fluent), please provide a transcript of the prompt(s) you used while writing your draft (see the how-to guide). Reviewers can make mistakes. If you have not received any LLM assistance, you may seek a second opinion at the AfC Help Desk.
See the advice page on large language models for more information.