Andy West (born February 6, 1953) is an American bass guitarist and composer who is an original founding member of the

Dixie Dregs The Dixie Dregs is an American rock band from Augusta, Georgia. Formed in 1970, the band's performance consists entirely of instrumentals that fuse elements of diverse genres such as rock, classical music, country, jazz and bluegrass into an ec ...

along with

Steve Morse Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist, best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the lead guitarist of Deep Purple from 1994 to 2022. Morse has also enjoyed a successful solo career and was briefly a member of ...

. Since the breakup of the original band in 1983, West has been on albums with

Mike Keneally Michael Joseph Keneally (born December 20, 1961) is an American session guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist and composer. Early years and musical influences Keneally started playing music at the age of 7 when he received an electric organ for h ...

Henry Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. Prior to World War II, Kaiser was involved in the construction industry; his company was one of ...

Paul Barrere Paul Barrere (July 3, 1948 – October 26, 2019) was an American musician most prominent as a member of the band Little Feat, which he joined in 1972 some three years after the band was created by Lowell George. Career Barrere recorded and per ...

Vinnie Moore Vincent Moore (born April 14, 1964) is an American guitarist and a member of the British hard rock band UFO. Biography Moore was born in New Castle, Delaware. He began his professional career at age 12 after receiving a guitar as a Christ ...

, and many others. His frequent style of playing bass is with a

guitar pick A guitar pick (American English) is a plectrum used for guitars. Picks are generally made of one uniform material—such as some kind of plastic (nylon, Delrin, celluloid), rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, tagua, or stone. They ...

, although he has performed in

fingerstyle Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of guitar picking, playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with ...

on several occasions. Since 1985, West has simultaneously pursued a career in the software industry while continuing to release albums sporadically. He currently works as a vice president for Analytics and Adaptive Learning at

Pearson Education Pearson Education is a British-owned education publishing and assessment service to schools and corporations, as well for students directly. Pearson owns educational media brands including Addison–Wesley, Peachpit, Prentice Hall, eCollege, ...

Discography

With Dixie Dregs

*1976 ''

The Great Spectacular ''The Great Spectacular'' is a self-produced demo album by the Dixie Dregs, recorded in 1975 on campus at University of Miami and released in 1976 only on limited vinyl. By the time the band had risen in popularity in the late 1970s, the record ...

'' (Formally released in 1997) *1977 ''

Free Fall In Newtonian physics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on i ...

'' -

Capricorn Records Capricorn Records was an independent record label founded by Phil Walden and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia. Capricorn Records is often credited by music historians as creating the southern rock genre. History Label and studio foun ...

*1978 ''

What If What If may refer to: Film * ''What If'', a 2006 TV film starring Niall Buggy * ''What If...'' (2010 film), an American film * ''What If...'' (2012 film), a Greek film * ''What If'' (2013 film) or ''The F Word'', a Canadian-Irish film Telev ...

*1979 ''

Night of the Living Dregs ''Night of the Living Dregs'' is the third album by Dixie Dregs, released in 1979. The first half of the album was recorded in the studio, and the second half at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 23, 1978. The album received a Grammy Award nomin ...

'' -

*1980 ''

Dregs of the Earth ''Dregs of the Earth'' is the fourth studio album by Dixie Dregs, released in 1980. This album was the band's first release on Arista Records, their last one before changing its name to The Dregs, and contains a re-recording of one of their earli ...

'' -

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

*1981 ''

Unsung Heroes ''Unsung Heroes'', also known as ''Unknown Heroes'' or more literally as ''Nameless Heroes'', is a North Korean war drama mini-series about a spy in Seoul during the Korean War. Over twenty hours long, it was filmed and released in multiple part ...

'' -

*1982 ''

Industry Standard ''Industry Standard'' is the sixth studio album by the Dixie Dregs, released in 1982. This was the second of two albums released under the moniker The Dregs, and is their only album featuring vocals (by Alex Ligertwood of Santana and Patrick Sim ...

'' -

*1988 ''Off the Record'' *1989 ''Divided We Stand'' *1997 ''King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents'' - ''The Dregs 1979'' -

King Biscuit Flour Hour The ''King Biscuit Flower Hour'' was an American syndicated radio show presented by the D.I.R. Radio Network that featured concert performances by various rock music recording artists. History The program was broadcast on Sunday nights from 197 ...

*2000 ''California Screamin'' *2002 ''20th Century Masters: The Best of the Dixie Dregs'' *2007 "Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1978" - DVD release

With Others

*1984 Timmy - ''The Atlanta Project'' (4 Song EP produced by Eddie Offord) - Rudolf Music *1985

- ''Minds Eye'' -

Shrapnel Records Shrapnel Records is an American record label founded in 1980 by record producer Mike Varney. History Guitarist Marty Friedman (formerly of Megadeth and Cacophony), one of the label's most successful artists, first appeared on the album ''Unsu ...

*1985

Steve Morse Band Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist, best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the lead guitarist of Deep Purple from 1994 to 2022. Morse has also enjoyed a successful solo career and was briefly a member of ...

- ''High Tension Wires'' (on "Leprechaun Promenade", originally done as part of a promo for Ensoniq) -

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

*1986

Crazy Backwards Alphabet ''Crazy Backwards Alphabet'' is an album conceived by cartoonist Matt Groening and recorded by Henry Kaiser. The core group features Kaiser on guitar along with drummer John "Drumbo" French (ex Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band), bassist Andy ...

SST Records SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Tuners, a small business through which he sold electronics equipm ...

*1986

- ''Those Who Know History Are Doomed to Repeat It '' -

*1986

T Lavitz Terry "T" Lavitz (April 16, 1956 – October 7, 2010) was an American keyboardist, composer and Record producer, producer. He is best known for his work with the Dixie Dregs and Jazz Is Dead. Biography Born on April 16, 1956, Lavitz grew up in ...

- ''Storytime'' (on "I'm Callin' You") - Landslide Records *1994 John French - ''Waiting on the Flame'' -

Demon Records Demon Music Group (DMG) is a record company owned by BBC Studios that is mainly concerned with back-catalogue rights and re-issuing recordings as compilations on physical media (CDs and vinyl) via supermarkets and specialist stores. History DM ...

*1995

- ''If the Phone Don't Ring'' (recorded 1983) - Zoo/

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations * Music publishing companies: ** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 *** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...

*1987 Joaquin Lievano - ''One Mind'' - Global Pacific Records *1995 The Mistakes Mike Keneally With The Mistakes
- (with

, Henry Kaiser,

Prairie Prince Charles Lempriere "Prairie" Prince (born May 7, 1950) is an American drummer and graphic artist. He came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the San Francisco–based rock group The Tubes, was a member of Jefferson Starship from 1992 to ...

) - Immune Records. *2001 Andy West - ''Rama 1'' - with

Mike Portnoy Michael Stephen Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American musician who is primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. In September 2010, Portnoy announced his departur ...

Rod Morgenstein Rod Morgenstein (born April 19, 1953) is an American drummer and music educator. He is best known for his work with the rock bands Winger and Dixie Dregs. He also played with Fiona, Platypus, the Steve Morse Band, and Jelly Jam. He has also ...

, Toshi Iseda,

Jonathan Mover Jonathan Mover a.k.a. "Mover" is an American drummer, engineer and producer. He is a former member of the bands Marillion and GTR. Early life and career Mover was raised in the Boston area and began playing drums at age thirteen. Primarily s ...

Kit Watkins Kit Watkins (born 1953) is an American progressive-ambient-jazz recording artist based in Brattleboro, Vermont. He was previously a member of the band Happy the Man.Varga, George (December 28, 1983). "Labyrinth, Kit Watkins, Azymuth Records", ''The ...

, and

Jens Johansson Jens Ola Johansson (born 2 November 1963 in Stockholm) is a Swedish keyboardist and pianist who currently plays in the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius and Ritchie Blackmore's rock project Rainbow. He is notable for his high-speed neoclas ...

Magna Carta Records Magna Carta Records is an independent record label located in Rochester, New York. Magna Carta was formed in 1989 and is owned by Peter Morticelli and his partner Mike Varney. The label, named for the 1215 English document advancing democracy, '' ...

*2005 FWAP - ''Secret World'' (with Joaquin Lievano and Hilary Jones) *2019 ''Five Times Surprise'' (with Henry Kaiser, Anthony Pirog, Jeff Sipe, Tracy Silverman) -

Cuneiform Records Cuneiform Records is a record label in Silver Spring, Maryland. Founded in 1984, the label releases an mixture of musical styles, all with a Rock in Opposition aesthetic, including progressive jazz, jazz fusion, the Canterbury scene, and electr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Andy 1953 births Living people Dixie Dregs members Academy of Richmond County alumni 20th-century American bass guitarists Magna Carta Records artists