Ande Jacobson is a freelance writer, a retired engineer and musician, and the founder of A Good Reed Review.

A Good Reed Review began as a website focused on theater reviews and arts-related commentary. As time went on, its scope grew to include books and also miscellaneous essays on subjects of interest to Ande given writing is an artful form of expression.

Having spent many years as both a reed player and music director for community theater, Ande has had the opportunity to become involved in productions on many levels. That involvement included much of the behind the scenes stage and prep work in addition to the musical aspects. A Good Reed Review originally combined Ande’s analytical skills as an engineer with a wealth of theatrical and musical experience to provide freelance services a writer. Over time (and after a worldwide pandemic), A Good Reed Review has become far more focused on writing and less on performance.

As a musician, Ande freelanced as a player, an arranger, and a music director. Ande’s playing focused on A/Bb/Eb clarinet, soprano/alto/tenor saxophone, and flute/piccolo/alto flute.

As a music director, Ande directed small ensembles and pit orchestras for various local community and youth theatre groups often mentoring promising young musicians in many of those pit orchestras.

Ande continues in a mentoring capacity but no longer attends live performances in person as either a performing musician or a reviewer.

A list of Ande’s performances and public appearances along with some performance samples are available on the Appearances page.

While previously a prolific theater reviewer, as a writer, Ande continues freelancing remotely in the arts, politics, the sciences, and other miscellaneous subjects. Leveraging a lengthy engineering career, Ande also provides services as a technical writer.

Read Ande’s full-length theatrical and book reviews; commentaries/personal essays on various subjects including the arts, politics, and other miscellaneous subjects; along with some promotional material on this site. In addition to commentaries that appear here on A Good Reed Review, links to some of Ande’s external publications are also included on the Commentary & Pubs page.

Beyond reviews and other nonfiction stories and essays on this site, Ande is also developing a body of work in fiction, primarily in the form of short stories. Links to some of these stories can be found on the Fiction page.

Readers are invited to pose items for discussion or share thoughts with Ande and other readers on the Discussion page.

Interested readers can also find Ande on Mastodon.

Contact A Good Reed Review through the form below:

---

Site support:

A Good Reed Review does not block content with paywalls, but there are costs involved in maintaining this site. Several methods are employed to help defray operating costs to keep A Good Reed Review available, free of charge, to all interested readers:

• A Good Reed Review gratefully accepts direct donations via PayPal from appreciative readers.

• A Good Reed Review participates in the WordAds program by displaying unobtrusive ads provided by WordAds advertisers. As such, it would be greatly appreciated if readers disabled their ad blockers for this site to allow these ads to display.

• A Good Reed Review participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

---

---

Home