Andy Declerck

Instruments : Tenor saxophone, Soprano saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
Date of birth : 30/11/1974 - Courtrai

At the age of 10 Andy Declerck started studying saxophone. At the age of 13 he studied 3 years with classical saxophone player Rudy Haemers. After his studies as engineer, he got his first jazz lessons with a saxophone player Frank Debruyne. At the age of 25 he went to the Conservatory of Gent, where he followed lessons with Frank Vaganée, Dieter Limbourg, Marc Godfroid and Nico Schepers. In 2004 he followed master classes with Dick Oatts in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He has also followed masterclasses with John Ruocco and Bob Mintzer. He graduated in Gent in 2005 as a Master of Jazz Music.

Beside his own Andy Declerck & Kari Antila Group and Andy Declerck Quartet, he is co-leader of the Pieter Vandergooten Quartet, Trio Déja Nero and TriOrgan, and plays/played in among other the Salsa Bigband Mucho Gusto, Tuesday Night Orchestra (TNO), Bigband 86 conducted by Marc Godfroid, Greenhouse Sextet, Colorless Green, the dixielandband The Almost Swinging JazzBand, The Brussels Jazz Orchestra conducted by Frank Vaganée, Bigband The Young Jazz Ensemble, The Beethoven Academy, etc. and as a freelance musician. Had concerts with Hans Van Oost, Dirk Vanderlinden, Yannick Peeters, Frederik Leroux, Herman Pardon, etc.

He has performed in several Belgian jazzclubs and in the Netherlands, France, Greece and Finland.

As teacher, he works in the music schools of Harelbeke and Kortrijk. In 2008 he was appointed as general jazz coordinator at the music academy of Harelbeke.

Beside the tenor saxophone he also plays soprano saxophone, flute and clarinet.