Rate My Professor Andrew Robson

Andrew Robson is the Discipline Chair of Creative Arts in the School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Sydney in 2016 with a thesis titled "Austral Jazz: A Practitioner's Perspective on the Local Remaking of a Global Music Form." Additional qualifications include a Master of Music from the Australian National University in 1997, a Graduate Diploma in Music (Jazz Performance) with Distinction from the same institution in 1992, and a Diploma of Music in Jazz Studies from the Canberra School of Music in 1991. At Macquarie, he teaches a range of undergraduate and postgraduate units, including The Creative Musician, Musical Authorship and Songwriting, Music Projects and Audience Engagement, Arts Management Internship, Production Foundation, and the Creative Industries. His research centers on the development of creative communities and local jazz historiography as part of New Jazz Studies, alongside creative practice through composition, recording, and performance. He has presented papers at international conferences, such as the University of Cambridge in 2014 and the Jazz Utopia conference at Birmingham City University in 2016. In 2020, Routledge published his book Austral Jazz, chronicling Sydney's jazz scene from the early 1970s.

Renowned as a saxophonist and composer, Robson has shaped Australian jazz over more than 35 years. A three-time ARIA Award winner—for Best Jazz Album in 2000 and 2014, and Best World Music Album in 2001—he also received the Freedman Jazz Fellowship and AIR Awards for Best Jazz Album in 2009 and 2014. Key albums as leader include Bearing the Bell (2008), Songbook (2013), The Child Ballads (2016), and Zenith (2025, co-led with Sandy Evans and nominated for the 2025 ARIA Best Jazz Album). He performs with groups like the Paul Grabowsky Sextet (2014 ARIA winner), Mike Nock’s Big Small Band, and Ten Part Invention, and has collaborated with artists such as Marcia Hines, Tim Finn, Renee Geyer, and international figures like Terry Evans and Jon Cleary. Robson has toured extensively, appearing at major festivals in Chicago, Berlin, London, Rome, and across Europe, Asia, North America, and New Zealand, contributing significantly to the global recognition of Austral jazz.