Research and Teaching

Andrew Robson is the Discipline Chair of Creative Arts in the School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University. He teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate units that include: The Creative Musician, Musical Authorship and Songwriting, Music Projects and Audience Engagement, Arts Management Internship, Production Foundation and the Creative Industries. Andrew’s research is focussed on understanding the development of creative communities and local jazz historiography (New Jazz Studies). He is also continuing to develop his creative research outputs through composition, recording and live performances.

Andrew’s PhD thesis (USyd) focuses on his creative work viewed through the prism of the Australian and New Zealand jazz scenes. In 2014 Andrew’s research activities saw him present a conference paper at the University of Cambridge UK. In 2016 he returned to the UK to present a research paper at the ‘Jazz Utopia’ conference at Birmingham City University. Andrew's book ‘Austral Jazz’ which documents the history of Sydney’s jazz scene since the early 1970s was published by Routledge in 2020.

Creative Practice

In addition to his academic research and teaching work, Andrew Robson is one of Australia’s premier jazz musicians. A celebrated saxophonist and composer, Andrew is a three-time ARIA award winner and a recipient of the Freedman Jazz Fellowship, Andrew performs nationally and internationally with groups including: The Paul Grabowsky Sextet (winner of the 2014 ARIA award), Mike Nock’s Big Small Band, Ten Part Invention, the World According to James and his own groups. Andrew has toured widely with numerous ensembles and has performed at many of the world’s major jazz, world and folk music festivals including Chicago, Berlin, London, Rome and other major festivals and venues throughout Europe, Asia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

Andrew has released a series of critically acclaimed albums as a leader, including; Bearing the Bell (2008), Songbook (2013), The Child Ballads (2016) and most recently Zenith (2025) with a group Andrew co-leads with fellow saxophonist Sandy Evans OAM. This recording was nominated for Best Jazz Album at the 2025 ARIA awards. During a career spanning more that 35 years Andrew has performed with some of Australia’s most celebrated talent including Marcia Hines, Tim Finn, You Am I, Renee Geyer, Jon Stevens, Josh Pyke, Vince Jones, Ed Kuepper (The Saints), Alex Lloyd, Briggs, the Rockmelons and the Whitlams. He has also appeared with touring American artists Terry Evans, Cornell Dupree (Aretha Franklin) and Jon Cleary.