Since relocating to London, Andy has been performing with London Afrobeat Collective for over a decade, and through collaboration with artists like Dele Sosimi at Afobreat Vibration events over the years, has gained a deep knowledge of the history of afrobeat music, alongside his passion for jazz and improvisation.

“Striking guitar solos, Afrobeat-inspired drum rhythms, bebop, blues, and contemporary jazz-tinged melodies, as well as electronically manipulated textures, combine to tell the determined quest of an artist to fall in love with his art again.” - Paris Move (France)

Like many artists during the coronavirus pandemic, Andy was looking for something more to do with his time indoors than standard technical practice. Deprived of his usual outlet with London Afrobeat Collective, and as a former guitarist with a love for effects pedals, he started building a collection of sounds and improvising with them.

Over the course of 2021 and 2022 he expanded on this concept - spent many hours at the piano developing melodic themes - and considered how this idea might coalesce into a new project. The eventual result was “The Way Back From Here” - independently released in February 2024. 

On the album, Andy takes the audience on a journey through the uncertainty and frustration of the pandemic, combined with a sense of equanimity from his meditation practice, and a hope for eventual triumph.

“Andy Watts’ ‘The Way Back From Here’ is a faultless cornet adventure, one which is filled with energy and ideas and perhaps gives us a new insight into an underutilised instrument. Excellent.” - FREQ (UK)

With the debut album launched at London’s Vortex Jazz Club, and a string of UK dates on the horizon, Andy Watts Quartet are now exploring dates in the UK and Europe for 2025, while continuing to write and record new material for their next release.