Anton Schwartz

Last updated
Anton Schwartz
Born (1967-07-16) July 16, 1967 (age 54)
Origin New York, New York, United States
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s) saxophonist, composer, record producer, educator
Instruments Saxophone
Years active1990s-present
LabelsAntonjazz
Website antonjazz.com

Anton Schwartz (born July 16, 1967) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer based in Seattle, Washington and Oakland, California.

Contents

Biography

Anton Schwartz was born and raised in New York City, the son of Tony Schwartz, the audio documentarian and media theorist, and Reenah Lurie Schwartz. He attended The Dalton School, during which time he studied jazz privately with Warne Marsh and Eddie Daniels, [1] and studied advanced mathematics at New York University and Columbia University. He earned his Bachelor's, Phi Beta Kappa, in Mathematics and Philosophy at Harvard University in 1989, [2] whereupon he entered the Doctoral program in Computer Science at Stanford University on a National Science Foundation Fellowship. [3] There he pursued research in artificial Intelligence, specializing in reinforcement learning. [4] He left the program to become a full-time musician, but not before earning a Master of Science degree along the way.

He has released five CDs as a leader, on his own Antonjazz label. [5] They have garnered extensive national radio play [6] [7] and strong reviews. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] His 2006 CD, Radiant Blue, featured Peter Bernstein (guitar) and Taylor Eigsti (piano) and hit number Four on the U.S. jazz radio charts. [6] His most recent release, Flash Mob, featured Dominick Farinacci (trumpet) and Taylor Eigsti (piano) and enjoyed a long run on the radio Top 10. [16]

Schwartz performs periodically at Yoshi's. One such performance was broadcast nationally in the U.S. as an hourlong episode of NPR's JazzSet. [17]

Recent performances by Schwartz include an hourlong concert of unaccompanied saxophone for the 2013 San Francisco Jazz Festival [18] and as a soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra at Boston Symphony Hall (2014). [19]

In 2019, Schwartz released Random Roots, a music learning app that utilizes skill acquisition techniques such as varied practice, the spacing effect, the testing effect, context dependency, illusions of mastery and the generation effect. In 2013, he described the practice methodology that inspired the Random Roots app in a blog post of the same name.

Schwartz is a faculty member of the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, California, [20] has taught frequently at The Stanford Jazz Workshop, and has been Artist-In-Residence at Harvard University [21] and The Brubeck Institute. [22] [23]

Discography

Related Research Articles

Dave Brubeck American jazz pianist and composer (1920–2012)

David Warren Brubeck was an American jazz pianist and composer, considered one of the foremost exponents of cool jazz. Many of his compositions have become jazz standards including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranged from refined to bombastic, reflecting both his mother's classical training and his own improvisational skills. His music is known for employing unusual time signatures as well as superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities.

Flash mob Form of assembling humans

A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. Flash mobs may be organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.

Fantasy Records

Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Soul Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its investors, but the label is known more for its recordings of comedian Lenny Bruce, jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi, and the 1960s rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Josh Schwartz

Joshua Ian Schwartz is an American screenwriter and television producer. Schwartz is best known for creating and executive producing the Fox teen drama series The O.C. which ran for 4 seasons. Schwartz is also known for developing The CW's series Gossip Girl based on the book of the same name and for co-creating NBC's action-comedy-spy series, Chuck.

Take Five Jazz standard recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet

"Take Five" is a jazz standard composed by saxophonist Paul Desmond and originally recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet for their album Time Out at Columbia Records' 30th Street Studios in New York City on July 1, 1959. Two years later it became a surprise hit and the biggest-selling jazz single ever. Revived since in numerous movie and television soundtracks, the piece still receives significant radio airplay. The single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1996.

<i>Piano Jazz</i> US public radio show on NPR

Piano Jazz is a weekly one-hour radio show produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It began on June 4, 1978, and was hosted by jazz pianist Marian McPartland (1918–2013) until 2011. It is the longest-running cultural program on NPR. The show generally features a single guest, and usually consists of about an equal mixture of discussion and playing, often duets with McPartland. Initially the guests were limited to jazz pianists, but the format was later expanded to include performers on other instruments as well as other genres. The show provides an inside look at the relationships of jazz musicians, since McPartland often had long friendships with many of her guests. Piano Jazz won a Peabody Award in 1983. The show is an exclusive production of South Carolina public radio on WLTR and is offered nationally by NPR.

Improv Everywhere Comedic performance art group based in New York City

Improv Everywhere is a comedic performance art group based in New York City, formed in 2001 by Charlie Todd. Its slogan is "We Cause Scenes".

Taylor Eigsti American jazz pianist and composer

Taylor Eigsti is an American jazz pianist and composer. He has performed, toured, or recorded with Dave Brubeck, Chris Botti, Joshua Redman, Julian Lage, David Benoit, Terence Blanchard, Becca Stevens, James Moody, Esperanza Spalding, Lisa Fischer, Ernestine Anderson, Red Holloway, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Diane Schuur, Ambrose Akinmusire, Ben Wendel, Marian McPartland, Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton, Joshua Bell, Chris Potter, Stefon Harris, Sting, John Mayer, Hank Jones, Chick Corea, Snarky Puppy, Vanessa Williams, McCoy Tyner, Joey DeFrancesco, Charles McPherson, Geoffrey Keezer, Eldar Djangirov, Joe Lovano, The Doobie Brothers, and Frederica von Stade, among many others. His working trio features bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Eric Harland. He is also a member of Eric Harland Voyager, Kendrick Scott Oracle, and Gretchen Parlato's group. Since age 15, Eigsti has been a faculty member at the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University.

Darius Brubeck American jazz keyboardist and educator

Darius Brubeck is an American jazz keyboardist and educator. He is the son of jazz legend Dave Brubeck. He spent many years in Durban, South Africa, as a professor and head of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at the University of Natal.

Roberta Gambarini Musical artist

Roberta Gambarini is a jazz singer from Italy.

<i>The Real Ambassadors</i>

The Real Ambassadors is a jazz musical developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Dave and Iola Brubeck, in collaboration with Louis Armstrong and his band. It addressed the Civil Rights Movement, the music business, America's place in the world during the Cold War, the nature of God, and a number of other themes. It was set in a fictional African nation called Talgalla, and its central character was based on Armstrong and his time as a jazz ambassador. It was the first major large scale musical collaboration between Dave and Iola Brubeck and served as a template for their future musical collaborations. Songs from the musical were recorded by Columbia Records and a soundtrack album was released in 1962, just before the show's premiere at the 1962 Monterey Jazz Festival with an all star cast.

Jerry Bergonzi Musical artist

Jerry Bergonzi is an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and educator.

Julian Lage American guitarist and composer (born 1987)

Julian Lage is an American guitarist and composer.

Gretchen Parlato American jazz singer

Gretchen Parlato is an American jazz singer. She has performed and recorded with musicians such as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Barron, Esperanza Spalding, Terence Blanchard, Marcus Miller and Lionel Loueke.

<i>Jazz Goes to College</i> 1954 live album by The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Jazz Goes to College is a 1954 album documenting the North American college tour of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. It was Dave Brubeck's first album for Columbia Records. He was joined by alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, double bassist Bob Bates, and drummer Joe Dodge. The album was re-released on CD and cassette in the Columbia Jazz Masterpieces series in 1989 and on CD by Sony International in 2000.

AdMob is a mobile advertising company founded by Omar Hamoui. The name AdMob is a portmanteau for "advertising on mobile". It was incorporated on April 10, 2006 while Hamoui was in business school at Wharton School. The company is based in Mountain View, California. In November 2009, it was acquired by Google for $750 million. The acquisition was completed on May 27, 2010. Apple Inc. had also expressed interest in purchasing the company the same year, but they were out-bid by Google. Prior to being acquired by Google, AdMob acquired the company AdWhirl, formerly Adrollo, which is a platform for developing advertisements in iPhone applications. AdMob offers advertising options for many mobile platforms, including Android, iOS, webOS, Flash Lite, Windows Phone and all standard mobile web browsers.

Quartet San Francisco is a non-traditional and eclectic string quartet led by violinist and String Masters co-founder Jeremy Cohen. The group played their first concert in 2001 and has recorded five albums. Playing a wide range of music genres including jazz, blues, tango, swing, funk, and pop, the group challenges the traditional classical music foundation of the string quartet.

California Jazz Conservatory

The California Jazz Conservatory is a private music school in Berkeley, California. It is the only independent music conservatory in the United States devoted solely to jazz and related styles of music. Located in the Downtown Berkeley Arts District, the CJC offers Associate’s, Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Jazz Studies. The Conservatory also offers community education classes and workshops for instrumentalists and vocalists and precollege youth programs for beginning, intermediate and advanced musicians. To learn more, visit cjc.edu.

<i>Radiant Blue</i> 2006 studio album by Anton Schwartz

Radiant Blue is the fourth album by jazz saxophonist and composer Anton Schwartz, released in 2006. It garnered a cover story in JazzWeek Magazine, a feature article in the San Francisco Chronicle, received strong reviews and hit number four on the U.S. jazz radio charts.

<i>Flash Mob</i> (album) 2014 studio album by Anton Schwartz

Flash Mob is the fifth album by jazz saxophonist and composer Anton Schwartz on his own Antonjazz label, released in 2014. It received limited press including a feature article in the San Francisco Chronicle an artist profile in DownBeat magazine and a feature story on NPR's Morning Edition as well as positive reviews and a long run on the Jazz Radio Top 10.

References

  1. "Anton Schwartz: Interview by Jazz Improv". Jazz Improv magazine. 7 (2). Spring 2007. pp. 129–130.
  2. "Harvard College Phi Beta Kappa Members" . Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  3. Gilbert, Andrew (2006-10-08). "Anton Catches On". San Francisco Chronicle.
  4. Schwartz, Anton (1993). "A reinforcement learning method for maximizing undiscounted rewards". Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Machine Learning. Morgan Kaufmann. pp. 298–305.
  5. "Anton Schwartz Discography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  6. 1 2 "Jazz Album Chart" (pdf). JazzWeek. 2006-10-05. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  7. "Jazz Album Chart" (pdf). JazzWeek. 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
  8. Conrad, Thomas (November 2006). "CD Reviews: Anton Schwartz, Radiant Blue". Jazz Times.
  9. Kopp, Ed (Jan–Feb 2007). "Anton Schwartz, Radiant Blue". JAZZIZ.
  10. Bedford, Winthrop (Winter 2005). "Anton Schwartz, Holiday Time". Jazz Improv . 5 (2). p. 294.
  11. Astarita, Glenn (2000-03-01). "The Slow Lane, Anton Schwartz". All About Jazz.
  12. Richardson, Derk (1998-11-25). "Anton Schwartz, When Music Calls". San Francisco Bay Guardian. 33 (8).
  13. Garelick, Jon (March 2014). "Anton Schwartz, Flash Mob". DownBeat Magazine. 81 (3). p. 60.
  14. Astarita, Glenn (2014-02-03). "Anton Schwartz: Flash Mob". All About Jazz . Retrieved 2014-04-11.
  15. Yanow, Scott (March 2014). "Anton Schwartz - Flash Mob". L.A. Jazz Scene. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
  16. "Anton Schwartz: Flash Mob". JazzWeek. 2014-04-11. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
  17. "NPR's JazzSet: Anton Schwartz Quintet". npr.org. 2006. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  18. "Anton Schwartz". SFJAZZ. 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  19. "Harvard Night with Alan Gilbert". Boston Symphony Orchestra. 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  20. "California Jazz Conservatory Faculty". California Jazz Conservatory . Retrieved 2017-02-03.
  21. "Harvard Alums Return to Celebrate 30 Years of Making Music". Office for the Arts at Harvard. 2002-03-02. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  22. "Brubeck Fellowship Program". University of the Pacific. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
  23. "Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony". University of the Pacific. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-20.