During his twenty years of drumming, Andrew Artz has won numerous awards for both performance and composition. In high school, he studied with Joe Pulice and won the prestigious Outstanding Soloist Award from the International Association of Jazz Educators at the 1995 Head of the Lakes Jazz Festival in Duluth, MN. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in both Electrical & Computer Engineering and Philosophy, Andrew was also very active in the Pittsburgh music scene. Soon after arriving at CMU, he established himself as the university's "first call" for musical productions, and by the end of his time in Pittsburgh he had played for nearly every local college, university, and theatre group. He studied under Paul Evans, Eric Kloss, and Dave Pellow.
After college, Andy worked as a show drummer and music director for Celebrity Cruises and The Yachts Of Seabourn, and now resides in Minneapolis. He has worked as a guest artist and instructed jazz combo classes at Hamline University, and is a drum set clinician and hired performer for area schools, churches, and community education programs. Andy is presently performing with rock and roll cover band The Zebra Mussels, world music group The Robert Everest Expedition, and acclaimed big band The Acme Jazz Company. Through his career on land and sea, he's backed up many national and international performing artists, including Claudia Acuna, Barry Danelian, Mark Preston, and Jack Walker. Locally, he has also worked with the Redneck Hippies, Steve Clarke and the Working Stiffs, the Jerry O'Hagan Big Band, the Stan Bann Big Band, the Twin Cities Jazz Orchestra, Trish & The North Shore Drive (TNSD), Chill 7, Higher Call, David Haas, Lori True, Michael Joncas, and Robby Vee.