Saxophone soloist, chamber musician, researcher, and pedagogue Andrew J. Allen has premiered more than two dozen works for his instrument from such composers as François Rossé, Robert Lemay, Fang Man, Jesse Jones, Greg Simon, and Jay Batzner. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, the University of South Carolina Wind Ensemble, the Oklahoma State University Chamber Orchestra, and the University of Arkansas Wind Symphony, and has given performances throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, and Croatia.  Allen’s recordings include Step Inside: New American Music for Saxophone and Percussion and The Avenging Spirit, both on the Equilibrium label, and he is a featured soloist on Spring Shadows: Electronic Solo Works by Anne Neikirk on Ravello Records. He has garnered considerable critical acclaim: The Instrumentalist has lauded Allen as “a master of all sizes of saxophone,” while The Saxophonist has hailed his "virtuosic saxophone performance,” and The Saxophone Symposium has cited his “complete control of the instrument.”

As an ensemble musician, Allen has performed with the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, the Bryan Symphony, the Midland Symphony, Symphony Orchestra Augusta, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. Present chamber ensemble activities include The Palmetto Saxophone Quartet, the percussion and saxophone group Rogue Two (with Gordon Hicken), and the flute and saxophone ensemble The Allen Duo (with Elise Naber Allen). As a commercial musician, Allen has served as a sideman with a diverse variety of artists including R&B luminaries The Temptations and country music legend Ronnie Milsap. 

Allen is one of the most active scholars and public pedagogues of the saxophone today.  His has written for The Instrumentalist, Music Educators Journal, Teaching Music, The Saxophone Symposium, College Music Symposium, The NACWPI Journal, The American Music Teacher, JazzEd, and School Band and Orchestra, and his transcriptions and arrangements are available through Dorn Publications and Lovebird Music. Allen has presented clinics across the country, including at the state music education conventions of Georgia, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas, and he has given masterclasses and lectures at some of the most prestigious schools of music in the United States, including the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, Bowling Green State University, Duquesne University, and Shenandoah Conservatory, among many others. He is assistant editor of The Saxophone Symposium, the peer-reviewed journal of The North American Saxophone Alliance. 

Andrew J. Allen is Associate Professor of Saxophone and Coordinator of Winds & Percussion at Georgia College & State University, and he serves as President-Elect of the North American Saxophone Alliance.  His previous academic appointments include positions at Midwestern State University, Valley City State University, and Claflin University. Allen’s students have performed at national and regional conferences of The North American Saxophone Alliance, the American Single Reed Summit, the United States Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, and at the state music education association conventions of Georgia and Texas. He was the recipient of the 2023-2024 Georgia College & State University College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award, and he has been recognized as both an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and as a Sigma Alpha Iota National Arts Associate.

Allen holds degrees from Tennessee Technological University, Central Michigan University, and the University of South Carolina.  His primary teachers include Phil Barham, John Nichol, and Clifford Leaman, and he has received additional instruction from Joseph Lulloff at the Brevard Music Center; Claude Delangle, Vincent David, and Arno Bornkamp at the European University of Saxophone; and Christine Rall at the Rascher Saxophone Quartet Workshop.  Allen is a Conn-Selmer Artist-Clinician, a Vandoren Performing Artist, and a Key Leaves Endorsing Artist, and he performs exclusively on Selmer Paris saxophones and Vandoren mouthpieces, reeds, and ligatures.