Sunday "meet The Artist" Jazz Series - Winard Harper & Radam Schwartz at Moore's Lounge Aka Bill & Ruth's

Tonight’s special guest is Radam Schwartz, who is not only one of the finest B3 organ players around but is a living encyclopedia on the history of American Jazz and the role the B3 in the many, many clubs that once made the Jazz scene in New York, Boston, Newark, Atlanta and many other cities a pillar of local culture. Radam grew up in various boroughs of NYC and started playing the saxophone in junior high. He still describes one of the most euphoric musical experiences of his musical life being his first ever rehearsal with his first ever band – “when everything came together”. In senior high, friends turned him on to Jazz and soon enough young Radam was a regular in the clubs of New York and gaining work experience in a recording studio. Not much later, at Berklee, as a Liberal Arts student, he explored the alternative Boston Jazz scene. By 1974, Radam Schwartz was living in a loft in lower Manhattan and he got deeply involved in the vibrant avant-garde and compositional jam session loft scene of the 70’s. Moving to New Jersey, Radam enrolled at Rutgers (from where he holds a Master Degree), studying piano with Kenny Barron and composition and for the first time started making a living through his music (in the Q&A, ask him about his gigs with the “Neo-Bop Crisis Committee”) especially travelling up and down the East coast with legendary Jimmy Ford. So many clubs were buzzing in the 80’s in the Newark area, where Radam Schwarz performed with Arthur and Red Prysock, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Duke Anderson, Jimmy Anderson, Woody Shaw, Bill Codey, Harold van Pelt, Charlie Mason, Al Patterson, Grachun Moncur, Vinnie Burke, Mickey Tuckery, you name it. He also toured Europe with Al Hibler and subsequently became the house organ player at the legendary Peppermint Lounge in Orange N.J. and later at the Crossroads, where Etta James, Irene Reeves, Jimmy McGriff would drop in to jam and George Benson was once quoted in the Star-Ledger as saying he went to the jam sessions just because he loved to play with Radam! ...

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Tonight’s special guest is Radam Schwartz, who is not only one of the finest B3 organ players around but is a living encyclopedia on the history of American Jazz and the role the B3 in the many, many clubs that once made the Jazz scene in New York, Boston, Newark, Atlanta and many other cities a pillar of local culture. Radam grew up in various boroughs of NYC and started playing the saxophone in junior high. He still describes one of the most euphoric musical experiences of his musical life being his first ever rehearsal with his first ever band – “when everything came together”. In senior high, friends turned him on to Jazz and soon enough young Radam was a regular in the clubs of New York and gaining work experience in a recording studio. Not much later, at Berklee, as a Liberal Arts student, he explored the alternative Boston Jazz scene. By 1974, Radam Schwartz was living in a loft in lower Manhattan and he got deeply involved in the vibrant avant-garde and compositional jam session loft scene of the 70’s. Moving to New Jersey, Radam enrolled at Rutgers (from where he holds a Master Degree), studying piano with Kenny Barron and composition and for the first time started making a living through his music (in the Q&A, ask him about his gigs with the “Neo-Bop Crisis Committee”) especially travelling up and down the East coast with legendary Jimmy Ford. So many clubs were buzzing in the 80’s in the Newark area, where Radam Schwarz performed with Arthur and Red Prysock, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Duke Anderson, Jimmy Anderson, Woody Shaw, Bill Codey, Harold van Pelt, Charlie Mason, Al Patterson, Grachun Moncur, Vinnie Burke, Mickey Tuckery, you name it. He also toured Europe with Al Hibler and subsequently became the house organ player at the legendary Peppermint Lounge in Orange N.J. and later at the Crossroads, where Etta James, Irene Reeves, Jimmy McGriff would drop in to jam and George Benson was once quoted in the Star-Ledger as saying he went to the jam sessions just because he loved to play with Radam!
Radam Schwartz has also become a distinguished and committed Jazz educator on many fronts, both as a historian, theoretician and a master at the organ and has seen his recorded body of work as a composer and with the “Conspiracy for Positivity” ensemble rank high in various charts, over the years.
There is nothing Radam Schwartz will not be able to discuss when it comes to organs – all you need to do is ask in the Q&A. As he says: “as an organ player, 80% is getting your baseline groove with the drummer” – no doubt the groove will be great on Sunday night.

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