Andy McGhee (b. November 3, 1927, Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...

) is a tenor saxophonist and educator.

Andy McGhee graduated from New England Conservatory in 1949 and worked for a short time with trumpeter Roy Eldridge

Roy Eldridge

Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a...

 and local Boston musician Fat Man Robinson. After marrying in 1950, McGhee served in the Army in Korea and at Fort Dix, New Jersey

Fort Dix, New Jersey

JB MDL Dix , better known as Fort Dix, is a United States Army base located approximately south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Dix is under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Reserve Command...

 where he played in an army band and gave lessons to other musicians. From 1957 to 1963 McGhee worked in Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...

's band, touring the United States, Europe, and the Far East. His composition, McGhee, can be found on the recording, The Many Sides of Lionel Hampton. McGhee worked with Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

 from 1963 to 1966.

McGhee joined the faculty of Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...

 in 1966. Among McGhee's many students are noted saxophonists Bill Pierce

Bill Pierce

Bill Pierce is an American jazz saxophonist.He played with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in the early 1980s and in Tony Williams's quintet in the mid-1980s to early 1990s...

, Javon Jackson, Donald Harrison

Donald Harrison

Donald Harrison, Jr. is an American jazz saxophonist from New Orleans, Louisiana.-Biography:Harrison studied at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and Berklee College of Music. He played with Roy Haynes, Jack McDuff, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Terence Blanchard and Don Pullen in the...

, Antonio Hart

Antonio Hart

Antonio Hart is a jazz alto saxophonist. He attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, studied with Andy McGhee at Berklee College of Music, and has a master's degree from Queens College, City University of New York. His initial training was classical, but he switched to jazz in college...

, Sam Newsome

Sam Newsome

Sam Newsome is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. His music combines an eclectic mix of straight-ahead jazz, world music and extended techniques...

, Richie Cole

Richie Cole (musician)

Richie Cole is a jazz alto saxophonist composer and arranger born in Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. and is a graduate of Ewing High School, Ewing New Jersey....

, Greg Osby

Greg Osby

Greg Osby is an American jazz saxophonist who plays mainly in the free jazz, free funk and M-Base idioms.-Biography:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, where he majored in Jazz Studies, and then at the Berklee College of Music, with Andy McGhee...

, and Ralph Moore

Ralph Moore

-Biography:Ralph Moore was born in London, England and grew up in a crowded inner city area. He evinced no particular musical interest until his mother bought him a trumpet when he was 13. Ralph studied with the late Alan Briggs, a local musician, in Brixton, and was soon sitting in with pub bands....

. While devoting his time thereafter to teaching, McGhee wrote three notable music instruction books: Improvisation for Saxophone and Flute: The Scale/Mode Approach and Modal Strategies for Saxophone.

On March 15, 1978, Andy McGhee performed the with Lionel Hampton and the Lionel Hampton Alumni Band as part of The Boston Globe Jazz Festival. The band included Bob Wilber, clarinet, Ernie Wilkins, saxophones, Teddy Wilson, piano, Alan Dawson and Terri Lynne Carrington, drums and Hampton on vibraphone. The performance marked the 50th anniversary of the start of Lionel Hampton's career as a professional musician.

In the early 1990s, McGhee toured with Lionel Hampton as member of the Golden Men of Jazz tour. The band featured Harry "Sweets" Edison, Clark Terry

Clark Terry

Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...

, Benny Bailey

Benny Bailey

Benny Bailey, born Ernest Harold Bailey , was an American bebop and hard-bop jazz trumpeter.-Biography:...

, Al Grey

Al Grey

Al Grey was a jazz trombonist who is most remembered for his association with the Count Basie orchestra....

, and Benny Golson

Benny Golson

Benny Golson is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger.-Biography:While in high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Golson played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and...

. The Golden Men of Jazz played concerts throughout Europe and on returning to the United States played for President George H.W. Bush in Washington, D.C.

Discography

As a Leader:

• Could it Be (1993)

As a Sideman:

• Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra, The Many Sides of Lionel Hampton (Glad Hamp, 1961)
• Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra, The Many Sides of Hamp, Vol. 2 (Ember Records, UK, 1963)
• Phil Wilson, Getting It Altogether (Outrageous Records, 1978)