“Every time I hear Andy Fite in a live setting I walk away thinking I just heard the greatest jazz guitarist alive on the planet.”
Mark Weber, KUNM, Albuquerque NM, June 2016
http://markweber.free-jazz.net/2016/06/27/nasta-modern-jazz-in-sweden/
…”The surprise of the evening for me was Andy Fite… he sang and blew me away with his singing and improvising. I was really shocked... and am still in shock....a killer...”
Sheila Jordan, NYC, March 11, 2006
”World’s greatest scat singer! No one has Andy’s combination of originality, intonation, and time feel, all wrapped up in one swinging package.”
Gary Levy, alto saxophonist, NYC, November 2016
“Andy Fite blows my mind.”
Adam Caine, guitarist, New York City, August 2017
Really, really brilliant. Not because it was very comic or very philosophical. It was musically brilliant and it was about us as human beings. We in the small audience loved the music, and smiled here and there because it was about us. And it was one of the most enjoyable performances I have experienced for quite some time.
Bengt-Ove Boström, Stockholm, 2017
”Yesterday for the first time I heard the guitarist Andy Fite. How did this man escape my attention for twenty years? Absolutely world class. Blinding musicality with a lightning technique. I have never anybody play jazz guitar and sing like this. Every one of his songs sounded like an evergreen I was hearing for the first time. Funny and serious and entertaining in an unbeatable combination. Check him out!”
Mats Persson, drummer, Stockholm, March 28, 2014
”Wonderful funny songs… terrific singing!”
Rigmor Gustafsson, jazz singer, Stockholm, 2003
“Andy Fite writes funny, insightful, moving and jazzy songs in the best sense of every one of those words…. an abundance of good and generous work. Highly recommended!”
Helle Hansen, singer and songwriter, Copenhagen, DK, October 2014
“I have found that [Andy Fite’s] CDs really do lift me out of the deep black hole… I am in awe and gratitude. This constant invention… Every phrase and twist: this is truth.”
Les Wilson, drummer and composer, UK, September, 2011
"An indie music distribution source of some note that carries this album stated in their usual 'people who like x will like this' section that those who like Django Reinhardt, Bach and Warne Marsh will find this album to their liking. Well, I guess. This may be the only album I can think of where those three names don't seem like a stretch... I must say that Andy Fite makes such combinations seem natural and also seem more like Andy Fite than a combination...
[W]hat a different way to go about it! The contrapuntal lines are there or implied, but so are some really nifty guitar improvisations, some swing chord harmonizations, and any manner of other rather brilliant ways into, around and through Bach's wonderful music.
I think I should just say that it's a monument to Andy Fite and his musicianship. And it extends Bach in ways Bach would have dug, being a significant improviser himself."
Grego Edwards
http://gapplegateguitar.blogspot.se/2012/03/andy-fite-different-temperament-well.html
"How do you explain Andy Fite?...The first time I heard Andy Fite my head spun around on my shoulders six times. ... [Somewhere along the line he’s learned how to divide his mind perfectly and play such divergent counterpoint with himself that if you weren’t looking directly at him you’d think there were two people! His lines are going one direction while his chords go another. Eddie Lang would have loved it.... And Andy sings & scats as well. And it’s all musical, totally. Perfectly wonderful."
Mark Weber, KUNM-FM Albuquerque NM, USA, September, 2009
http://metropolis.free-jazz.net/mark-weber-9-nights-at-the-stone-new-york-city/photography/
" Andy can put a song together in a few hours, I can assure you, you will pee your pants. First time he played I was hooked.... Laughed all the way home! Love it! Check out his site-- you will love him!"
Taralynne Maclean (from the 55 Bar, NYC, March 2010)
“Joy is an emotion too often missing from jazz recordings.... Fite is positively ebullient.... His improvisations never end up where you anticipate....” ”He doesn’t play any notes that don’t count…. His improvisations…display utter confidence in his own mastery of the instrument…. Fite deserves far more credit than he receives.”
David Dupont, Cadence, 1992 and 1997
“....A whole different way to play the guitar, and it’s funky, and it’s for real, and it’s fresh.... It’s totally original. On the same six strings.... Beautiful.”
Red Mitchell, bassist, singer and songwriter (1927-1992), 1992
“With quick and funny contemplations on relationships and their tribulations, many set to swinging old-fashioned acoustic jazz, one can’t help think of Woody Allen and Randy Newman.”
Dan Backman, Svenska Dagbladet, Jan. 19, 2011 on Andy’s CD ”20 from ’10”.
”I played your CD in a workshop in Finland and we all had the same opinion: your music is something we should be listening to every day.”
Helin-Mari Arder, jazz singer, Tallinn, Estonia, 2005
”With the very first song, he has us. Andy Fite gets right to everybody! Alone with his guitar he sits onstage with a smile on his lips. He has, by the way, a very pleasant voice…. Andy Fite is a crooning comedian with a guitar. A good one!”
Mia Uhlin, Ålandstidningen, Mariehamn, Finland, Feb. 2004
”Short bursts of concentrated Andy Fite are always a highly effective treatment.”
Christiana Drapkin, jazz singer, New York City, July 2006
”Better than a hot bath!”
Andreas Linderman, Stockholm, Sweden, 2006
“Andy Fite is a great entertainer.”
Håkan Mauritzon, Smålands Posten, Kalmar, Sweden, Sept. 2
”It’s always a pleasure to play with you, Andy.”
Kenny Clarke, drummer (1914-1985), 1978
”He has a very pleasant way of presenting himself. Always a gleam in the eye, with a touch of melancholy…. It’s charming and deeply serious.”
Lena Svensson, Östra Småland, Kalmar, Sweden, Aug. 1998
“Dense, harmonically exciting, often dizzying melodic lines.... A red-hot temperament drives the music forward.... It’s strong-willed, rebellious and outspoken.... In Fite’s hands, the guitar is a multi-instrument: zither, string bass, the inside of a piano.... What other guitar player gets you thinking of John Cage? You’ll never get tired of this CD.”
Agneta Westerberg, Orkester Journalen, Stockholm, Feb. 1996, onWhirlwind
“Andy Fite plays the guitar like nobody else. Long, logical lines and an unerring time feeling, but above all a fresh stream from an unmistakably original melodic source. It’s a fantastic adventure to hear Andy”.... “Fite seems entirely aware of his mastery and this instinct deepens his playing even further..... World class, all categories!”
Bjarne Moelv, Folket, Eskilstuna, Sweden
”Andy Fite turned out to be a happy guy who spread both music and warmth…and words of wisdom about life and relationships, in his own very enjoyable way.”
Bengt Valentinsson, Gotlands Tidningar, Visby, Sweden, March 3, 2006
“Sounds good. Maybe in a hundred years it’ll be a big seller.”
Billy Bauer, guitarist (1915-2005), on Whirlwind, 1995
”Everybody loves Andy Fite!”
Anar Tagi-Zade, jazz singer, 2004