Born in the suburbs of Philadelphia, U.S.A. and of Colombian descent, saxophonist Andrew Urbina is a freelance musician who performs throughout the United States, Canada, and Colombia. He has had the opportunity to collaborate with an array of musicians such as Antonio Arnedo, Victor Bastidas, Hugo Candelario, David Garibaldi, Django Bates, John Hollenbeck, Los Petits Fellas, My Morning Jacket, Rémi Bolduc, Theo Bleckman, Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Yo La Tengo and former poet laureate of the United States Robert Pinsky.

In the summer of 2008, Andrew participated in the Banff International Workshop of Jazz and Creative Music at the Banff Center led by Dave Douglas in Alberta, Canada. The following year in January 2009, he performed at the VI Panama Jazz Festival with an ensemble from New England Conservatory. From 2012-2016, Andrew lived in Bogotá, Colombia and was an active educator and performer throughout the country. In 2016, he had the opportunity to perform with the Ida y Vuelta ensemble at the X Festival Internacional de Música in Cartagena, Colombia.

  As an educator, Andrew’s teaching philosophy focuses on a well-rounded musical foundation so that students have the tools to develop their own musical voice.  He has taught students of all ages and levels in several musical settings such as La Universidad Sergio Arboleda & La Escuela de Música y Audio Fernando Sor in Bogotá, Colombia, McGill University in Montréal, Canada, and the Governor’s School of the Arts and Performing Arts Institute at Wyoming Seminary in eastern Pennsylvania.  

Most recently from 2016-2020, Andrew was the jazz band director at Bala Cynwyd Middle School where he taught the Junior and Senior jazz bands. He currently is the Director of Bands and teaches Music Technology at Radnor Middle School. As a performer, he is an active member of Norman David and The Eleventet and the U.S.E. Trio as well as freelances regularly with various groups throughout the greater Philadelphia area.

Andrew has a Bachelor of Music from New England Conservatory and Master of Music from McGill University in Jazz Studies. He also completed his PA K-12 Teaching Certification from Immaculata University. Throughout his academic career, Andrew has had the opportunity to study with Jerry Bergonzi, Allan Chase, Ben Schachter, George Garzone, Cecil McBee, Jerry Leake, John McNeil, Jan Jarczyk, Rémi Bolduc and Chris McCann.