Anton Schwartz and Laila Smith at San Pedro Square Market

Saxophonist Anton Schwartz has been drawing listeners in with the power, spirit and subtle complexity of his music since he bounded onto the San Francisco Jazz scene in 1995. At 27, Anton was answering the call of his long-standing passion for Jazz, stepping away from the high-level research in Artificial Intelligence he’d carried out at Harvard and Stanford. Quite a career change. Once in action as a musician, Anton quickly gained an enthusiastic following, as music fans responded to what the San Francisco Chronicle recently called his “warm, generous tone, impeccably developed solos and infectious performance energy.” In the years since, Anton has won over listeners and critics at high-profile venues across the country, including the Blue Note, Blues Alley, Yoshi's, and the Monterey Jazz Festival. In this performance, Schwartz is joined by Erik Jacobson on trumpet; Greg Wyser-Pratte on drums; John Shifflett on bass; Grant Levin on piano. Schwartz's 4th CD, Radiant Blue, spent 15 weeks on the JazzWeek Top 40 jazz radio chart, peaking at #4....

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Saxophonist Anton Schwartz has been drawing listeners in with the power, spirit and subtle complexity of his music since he bounded onto the San Francisco Jazz scene in 1995. At 27, Anton was answering the call of his long-standing passion for Jazz, stepping away from the high-level research in Artificial Intelligence he’d carried out at Harvard and Stanford. Quite a career change. Once in action as a musician, Anton quickly gained an enthusiastic following, as music fans responded to what the San Francisco Chronicle recently called his “warm, generous tone, impeccably developed solos and infectious performance energy.” In the years since, Anton has won over listeners and critics at high-profile venues across the country, including the Blue Note, Blues Alley, Yoshi's, and the Monterey Jazz Festival. In this performance, Schwartz is joined by Erik Jacobson on trumpet; Greg Wyser-Pratte on drums; John Shifflett on bass; Grant Levin on piano. Schwartz's 4th CD, Radiant Blue, spent 15 weeks on the JazzWeek Top 40 jazz radio chart, peaking at #4.

An alumna of San Jose Jazz's education programs, Laila Smith has accomplished what many musicians dream to do. Her warm vocals have taken her around the world, to venues and countries including Carnegie Hall, Russia, Finland, and Estonia. She has won 4 Downbeat Awards for junior high jazz vocal soloist, and for high school jazz vocal soloist, jazz choir and classical vocal soloist. Laila's compositions have been recognized in 2010 and 2012 with ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Awards and at the 2011 Jazz Education Network's Composers Showcase in New Orleans, where she performed with the North Texas One O’clock Band. In January, Laila performed at the JEN Louisville conference and attended YoungArts Week in Miami as a finalist in jazz voice, where she was nominated as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. In February, she attended All State Jazz Choir for the third year in a row, and attended GRAMMY Week with the GRAMMY Jazz Choir, where she shared the stage with GRAMMY winners Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, Chick Corea, Kurt Elling and Joe Lovano.

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