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Radam Schwartz: Saxophone Quartet Music

By Richard J Salvucci
August 25, 2024
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A listener who remembers when saxophone quartets were a novelty—and a controversial one at that—is probably wondering how much the Cost-of-Living Adjustment will be for Social Security in 2025. Yes, the esteemed

World Saxophone Quartet

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">World Saxophone Quartet kicked up as much a critical fuss in the late 1970s as

Ornette Coleman

saxophone, alto
1930 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Ornette Coleman did in the 1950s. Not as "In this jazz?" but as in "Is this music."

It is a measure of progress, one suspects, that those battles of yesteryear are not even recalled in the liner notes to this compelling recording that features compositions and arrangements by

Radam Schwartz

organ, Hammond B3

" data-original-title="" title="">Radam Schwartz. And, by the way, the instrumentalists,

Marcus Miller

bass
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Marcus Miller,

Irwin Hall

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Irwin Hall,

Anthony Ware

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Anthony Ware and

Max Schweiger

saxophone, baritone

" data-original-title="" title="">Max Schweiger manage to preserve the sound and ��clat of their predecessors without ever seeming to border on cacophony, sometimes misleadingly called "free jazz." There is even a vocal, "Hands/With These Hands" by

Carrie Jackson

vocals
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Carrie Jackson, which employs the reeds as a sensitive chorus. For boppers-at-heart, there is "Validation," which is rooted in the cadences and melody of at least half a dozen bop classics. It says something about Schwartz's skill as a writer that the tune works, when it could have simply come out an odd rehash where the audience is invited to name that tune. Schwartz, a prolific and well-travelled Hammond B3 player, has seemingly recorded with nearly everyone, aside from serving as the Director of the Jazz Institute of New Jersey in Somerset, NJ.

Schwartz has at least half a dozen recordings to his credit on the Arabesque Recordings label. If this one is any indication of his earlier writing, playing and arranging, they are surely worth checking out as well. While someone might object that it is hard to really hear any new ground broken in the recording, that may well be because the earlier influences have been so thoroughly assimilated as to just lay easily on the horns—and in the ear.

This is indeed a very fine recording. The more one listens, the more one hears. And that is always a very good path to discovery.

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Track Listing

Let��s Hear It For The Boy; Sway in Rinc��in; The Ancients; Hands/With These Hands; Validation; As Long As You��re Remembered (You��re Still Alive); Many Seasons Wise One; My Ship.

Personnel

Radam Schwartz

organ, Hammond B3

Marcus G. Miller

saxophone, soprano

Irwin Hall

saxophone

Anthony Ware

saxophone, tenor

Max Schweiger

saxophone, baritone

Misha Josephs

guitar

Carrie Jackson

vocals

Andrew Atkinson

percussion

Album information

Title: Saxophone Quartet Music | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: Arabesque Jazz

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