That day his flight to New York City was canceled, and instead he received the award the next year. In December 1968, Andrew and Joplin left Big Brother and the Holding Company to form the Kozmic Blues Band. After about nine months and one album, "I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!", Andrew returned to Big Brother. After Big Brother stopped performing in 1972, he moved to New York City, where he studied harmony and counterpoint at the New School for Social Research and composition at Mannes School of Music. During this period he also scored several films in the US and Canada as well as writing two string quartets and a symphony. He remained in New York City for eight years before returning to San Francisco, where he began playing clarinet and saxophone. Big Brother and the Holding Company reunited in 1987. During the 1990s, in addition to touring with Big Brother, Andrew was involved with his solo project, The Sam Andrew Band. It toured across North America, and the spoken word quartet Theatre of Light, that besides Andrew, featured The Vagabond Poet, Tony Seldin, keyboardist Tom Constanten and harpist-pianist Elise Piliwale. He also played several dates with the band Moby Grape and more recently with the band the Former Members featuring Greg Douglass, Roy Blumenfeld, David Bennett – Cohen and Bruce Barthol. Andrew was the Music Director of the musical "Love, Janis", based on the life of Janis Joplin, written and directed by Randal Myler and based on the book by Laura Joplin of the same name. He also performed at the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock Concert on August 15, 2009 at Bethel Woods, New York. Andrew lived in northern California with his wife Elise Piliwale. He had one daughter, Mari Andrew, from his marriage to Suzanne Thorson. He died in San Francisco, California on February 12, 2015, following complications from open-heart surgery due to a heart attack suffered ten weeks prior.