On December 2, 2022, a well-known jazz saxophonist from the San Francisco Bay Area died unexpectedly in Burlingame due to a “tragic” incident between an automobile and a train.
According to the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office, Andrew Speight, a 58-year-old resident of Burlingame, was deceased.
In a brief note on his Facebook page, Speight’s family members also announced his passing. Everybody is grieving over his passing and has expressed their sympathies and tributes on social media.
Around 1:40 pm on Thursday, the deadly crash was reported close to the Broadway Caltrain station in Burlingame. The commuter rail line claims that a driver became stranded on the rails and was hit by both a southbound and a northbound train.
The San Francisco Bay Area and the jazz community are mourning Andrew Speight’s demise since he was a gifted musician and a wonderful person.
Australia’s Sydney is where Speight was born, and it was there that he had the opportunity to share the stage with touring artists like Benny Carter and Nat Adderley. He relocated to Michigan in the early 1990s and taught jazz studies courses at San Francisco State University.
He played with Wynton Marsalis’ band in 1993 for a performance on BBC TV and then at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Australian version of the Grammy, the Aria Awards, was given to the alto saxophonist’s 1998 CD, “Andrew Speight Quartet,” capping off a significant amount of attention for his work back home.
He moved to the West to assist in overseeing the jazz program at San Francisco State, where he stayed on the faculty until his passing.
On the 2006 release Marsalis Music Honors Series: Jimmy Cobb, which All About Jazz calls “highly regarded,” Speight played a supporting role. Jazz journalist Thom Jurek observed that during Speight’s solo performances on the album, “Speight in particular excels.”
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
