In Memorium: Andrew Speight

Author: School of Music
December 12, 2022
Andrew Speight, a white man in a black polo shirt, playing his saxophone. His eyes are closed and his hair pushed back from his forehead.
Photo Credit: San Francisco State University

CW: death notice

 

SFSU School of Music faculty remembrance.

 

From Campus Memo:

Lecturer of Music Andrew Speight was killed Thursday, Dec. 1, when his car was hit by trains in Burlingame. A mainstay of the Bay Area jazz community, Speight had been teaching at SF State for two decades.

Born in Sydney, Australia, in 1964, he was the son of jazz pianist John Speight. He followed in his father’s footsteps by studying at the Sydney Conservatory of Music, though his preferred instrument was the alto saxophone. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1992 to join the music faculty at Michigan State University. He moved to San Francisco in 1998.

At SF State, Speight taught jazz ensemble, improvisation and jazz history. Over the course of his career, he played with an array of famous musicians, including Ellis, Wynton and Branford Marsalis. Active in the local jazz scene since coming to the Bay Area, he was well known for the support he gave his fellow players.