Andrew Danforth

Andrew Danforth is a Brooklyn-based trombonist, composer, and bandleader whose music brings together the worlds he has moved through: Indianapolis jazz tradition, orchestral training, underground rock, improvised music, and years spent in DIY spaces across the Midwest and New York.

 His projects fold improvising horns into distorted guitars, ambient textures, and dense arrangements shaped as much by jazz and contemporary classical music as indie rock and emo. Danforth came up traversing jazz clubs, orchestras, house shows, and self-booked tours — experiences that continue to shape how he writes, improvises, and builds ensembles.

A graduate of Indiana University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Danforth has performed with groups including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Heartbeat Opera, and National Repertory Orchestra while maintaining an active presence in New York large ensembles and independent projects. Raised in Indianapolis, he grew up in a musical household — his father has served as principal horn of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra since 1988 — and immersed himself early in jazz, youth orchestras, and busking around the city with friends.

After initially focusing on classical trombone at Indiana University, Danforth gradually moved deeper into jazz, improvisation, and original composition. At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he immersed himself in the region’s DIY music scene and absorbed the influence of bands including American Football, Hum, Braid, Castor, and C-Clamp, all of which helped shape the musical language that would later emerge in his own work.

After completing his master’s degree in 2022, Danforth returned to Indianapolis with a plan to record an album and move to New York. The result was Homegrown, recorded in Bloomington before a self-booked Midwest tour through Chicago, Indianapolis, Bloomington, Urbana, St. Louis, and Cleveland. The album reflected on Indianapolis history and the legacy of Indiana Avenue, the historically Black cultural district that produced artists including Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, J.J. Johnson, Slide Hampton, David Baker, and James Spaulding.

Danforth relocated to New York in 2023 and began developing the material that became See The Space As New while balancing freelance work, late-night sessions, and the realities of early-career bandleading. Built around a two-guitar ensemble and shaped through rehearsals, live performances, and studio experimentation with producers Chris Botta, David Gibson and George Schatzlein of the New York rock band Plastic, the album expands Danforth’s interest in combining distorted guitars, improvisation, ambient sound, and ensemble writing into a fully realized band sound.

“There are so many elements in this record that I can trace back to different parts of my upbringing and growth as a musician,” Danforth says.

“It’s a true statement of my musical heritage and continued sound exploration.”