Anton Schwartz

A melodic tenor saxophonist shaped by the styles of Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, and Dexter Gordon, Anton Schwartz has called the San Francisco Bay Area home since the 1990s. Though long associated with Northern California, he was born and raised in New York, where he first took up jazz on clarinet at age 12 and then switched to saxophone two years later. While still in high school he assembled a band that featured guitarist Peter Bernstein and organist Larry Goldings, and he also performed as a guest with both Woody Herman and Lionel Hampton. In 1985 Schwartz relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to enroll at Harvard, where he concentrated on mathematics and philosophy while performing with the Harvard Jazz Band. Four years afterward he headed west to Stanford, completing a master’s degree there before settling permanently in the Bay Area. Once established, he began leading his own ensembles and appeared as a sideman with pianist Mark Levine and vocalist Kitty Margolis. At thirty he issued his first recording, the 1997 album When Music Calls, on his own Anton Jazz imprint; Slow Lane arrived two years later. Holiday Time followed in 2004, and Radiant Blue, which again included Taylor Eigsti and Peter Bernstein, appeared in 2006. Schwartz returned in 2014 with Flash Mob, once more featuring Taylor Eigsti.