Anton Schwartz (born July 16, 1967) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

and composer based in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

and

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

Biography

Anton Schwartz was born and raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, the son of Tony Schwartz, the audio documentarian and media theorist, and Reenah Lurie Schwartz. He attended

The Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located ...

, during which time he studied jazz privately with

Warne Marsh Warne Marion Marsh (October 26, 1927 – December 18, 1987) was an American tenor saxophonist. Born in Los Angeles, his playing first came to prominence in the 1950s as a protégé of pianist Lennie Tristano and earned attention in the 1970s as ...

and

Eddie Daniels Eddie Daniels (born October 19, 1941) is an American musician and composer. Although he is best known as a jazz clarinetist, he has also played saxophone and flute as well as classical music on clarinet. Early life, family and education Daniel ...

, and studied advanced mathematics at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He earned his

Bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ( ...

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, in Mathematics and Philosophy at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1989, whereupon he entered the

Doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

program in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

on a National Science Foundation Fellowship. There he pursued research in

artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

, specializing in

reinforcement learning Reinforcement learning (RL) is an interdisciplinary area of machine learning and optimal control concerned with how an intelligent agent should take actions in a dynamic environment in order to maximize a reward signal. Reinforcement learnin ...

. He left the program to become a full-time musician, but not before earning a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree along the way.

Musician

He has released five CDs as a leader, on his own Antonjazz label. They have garnered extensive national radio play and strong reviews. His 2006 CD, Radiant Blue, featured Peter Bernstein (guitar) and Taylor Eigsti (piano) and hit number Four on the U.S. jazz radio charts. His most recent release,

Flash Mob A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people that assembles suddenly in a public place, performs for a brief time, then quickly disperses, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and/or artistic expression. Flash mobs may be organize ...

, featured Dominick Farinacci (trumpet) and Taylor Eigsti (piano) and enjoyed a long run on the radio Top 10. Schwartz performs periodically at Yoshi's. One such performance was broadcast nationally in the U.S. as an hourlong episode of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's JazzSet. Recent performances by Schwartz include an hourlong concert of unaccompanied saxophone for the 2013 San Francisco Jazz Festival and as a soloist with the

Boston Pops Orchestra The Boston Pops is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in light classical and popular music. The orchestra's current music director is Keith Lockhart. Founded in 1885 as an offshoot of the Boston Symphony Orc ...

Boston Symphony Hall Symphony Hall is a concert hall that is home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. BSO founder Henry Lee Higginson commissioned architectural firm McKim, Mead and White to create a new ...

(2014).

Educator & Educational Technologist

In 2019, Schwartz release
Random Roots
a music practice aid app that utilizes skill acquisition techniques such as varied practice, the

spacing effect The spacing effect demonstrates that learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out. This effect shows that more information is encoded into long-term memory by spaced study sessions, also known as '' spaced repetition'' or ''sp ...

, the

testing effect The testing effect (also known as retrieval practice, active recall, practice testing, or test-enhanced learning) suggests long-term memory is increased when part of the learning period is devoted to retrieving information from memory. It is differ ...

, context dependency, illusions of mastery and the

generation effect The generation effect is a phenomenon whereby information is better remembered if it is generated from one's own mind rather than simply read. Researchers have struggled to fully explain why generated information is better recalled than read info ...

. In 2013, he described the practice methodology that inspired the Random Roots app i
a blog post of the same name
In 2021, he release
ScaleMate
a music theory app aimed at helping musicians deepen their understanding of scales and musical harmony. Schwartz is a faculty member of the California Jazz Conservatory in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, has taught frequently at The

Stanford Jazz Workshop Stanford Jazz Workshop (SJW) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to jazz education and the annual concert series known as the Stanford Jazz Festival. SJW was founded in 1972 by saxophonist and educator Jim Nadel. Though many of its activities a ...

, and has been Artist-In-Residence at

and The Brubeck Institute.

Discography

* ''When Music Calls'' (1998, Antonjazz) * ''The Slow Lane'' (2000, Antonjazz) * ''Holiday Time'' (2004, Antonjazz) * '' Radiant Blue'' (2006, Antonjazz) * ''

'' (2014, Antonjazz)

References

External links

Anton Schwartz's official web siteAnton Schwartz on Google ScholarMusic educational apps by Anton Schwartz on the App StoreAnton Schwartz on AllAbout Jazz
* Anton Schwartz on Allmusic {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Anton Mainstream jazz saxophonists American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists American music educators Jazz musicians from California 1967 births Living people Jewish American musicians Harvard University alumni Stanford University alumni Soul-jazz saxophonists Jewish jazz musicians 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians 21st-century American Jews