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Adam Schroeder

Los Angeles based Baritone Saxophonist Adam Schroeder has rapidly become a major force throughout the global jazz scene. Schroeder; a first call for a growing multitude of musical circumstances, is known equally for his hard- driving muscular swing, ferocious be-bopping, meticulous musicianship and leadership as well as his exquisite sound. For Schroeder’s debut release “A Handful of Stars” (Capri Records July 20th, 2010), his approach has been described as possessing soul a la Carney, intricate lines like those of Chaloff and Adams, the in-the-pocket swing of Mulligan and the hard-driving take- no-prisoners approach of Smulyan. This description of Schroeder’s approach is a concise ‘short list’ of the baritone saxophone lineage with which Schroeder’s name should duly be added for he is truly a master of the most unwieldy of traditional jazz instruments.

Born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa, Adam began his musical studies on alto saxophone while in grade school. After an introduction to Charlie Parker in 1992, Schroeder’s musical interest became fixed solely within the jazz idiom. Mr. Schroeder finally discovered his saxophonistic voice between his junior and senior years, switching from the alto over to the baritone saxophone. Later that same year, Adam was asked to fill the baritone role in the college big band at Clark Terry’s International Institute of Jazz Studies. The acceptance of this position sparked a relationship with the famed Clark Terry, which lead to a multitude of musical opportunities shared between the two players, ongoing still today.

In June of 2000, Downbeat Magazine named Mr. Schroeder the Co-Winner of the “Jazz Instrumental Soloist Award” (the 23rd Annual Student Music Awards); the first time that a Baritone Saxophonist has been given this prestigious honor. Later that same year, Mr. Schroeder’s career took off with calls coming in from Columbia Artists (Maureen McGovern & John Pizzarelli in Concert), Clark Terry (The QE2’s 17th Annual Floating Jazz Festival), & Ray Charles; a call that started a four and a half year relationship up until the singer’s untimely passing.

Throughout his career, Adam has had the fortunate opportunity to play and record with a growing list of musical greats. Among them are Clark Terry, the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Anthony Wilson, Ray Charles, Diana Krall, John Pizzarelli, Bill Cosby, Bob Mintzer, Bennie Wallace, Michael Buble, Sting, Chris Botti, Louie Bellson, Gilbert Castellanos, Gary Smulyan, Joe Magnarelli, Gerald Clayton, American Idol, Gordon Goodwin, SUPERSAX, Mary Mary, Max Weinberg, the late Nick Brignola and Jack Nimitz, as well as the American Idol television show. He is also a Yamaha Artist and a RICO Reeds endorser.

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3
Album Review

Adam Schroeder & Mark Masters celebrate Clark Terry: CT!

Read "CT!" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


In jazz, where the past intertwines with the present and the future, few figures were as influential as the legendary trumpeter Clark Terry. During his playing career, he developed a creative, bouncy style with an irrepressible rhythmic verve that was entirely his own. The album CT! with baritone saxophonist Adam Schroeder and arranger Mark Masters serves as a heartfelt homage to this jazz icon, presenting fresh and invigorating arrangements of 13 Clark Terry originals skillfully performed by a 12-piece ensemble. ...

5
Album Review

Jack Jones Featuring Joey DeFrancesco: ArtWork

Read "ArtWork" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


"Those who know, know" happens to be a soon-to-be-overused phrase to describe the hip, the “In," and “the very elite of aware." Now in his Mid-80s, Jack Jones has maintained a stellar, cross-media career, all on a foundation of a once-in-a-lifetime voice. Mel Torme, one not easily prone to hyperbole, called Jones, “the best pure singer in the business." Torme and others in the Vocal Pantheon knew. With ArtWork, Jones joins forces with the late multi-instrumentalist and ...

31
Album Review

Jack Jones Featuring Joey DeFrancesco: ArtWork

Read "ArtWork" reviewed by Jack Bowers


If a singer's reputation is so impressive that he or she is able to enlist a full orchestra (with bassist John Clayton conducting) and the late organ maestro Joey DeFrancesco as featured soloist, that is certainly enough to warrant attention. The singer in this instance is two-time Grammy winner Jack Jones, the orchestra an assemblage of some of the Los Angeles area's finest musicians, enlarged by a thirty-member string section. On one hand, Jones remains a smooth ...

12
Album Review

Brian Eisenberg Jazz Orchestra: Pain & Beauty

Read "Pain & Beauty" reviewed by Edward Blanco


A religious man at heart, composer/band leader and producer Brian Eisenberg leads an 18-piece big band (The Brian Eisenberg Jazz Orchestra) on a personal musical exploration on the meaning of love through the perspective of what may be beautiful, and what may seem hurtful on the very introspective and challenging Pain & Beauty. The album, as he writes, “is dedicated to that ideal of genuine love...painful yet, beautiful love." Eisenberg sets the musical bar quite high on such lofty and ...

6
Album Review

Dave Slonaker: Convergency

Read "Convergency" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


In December 1910, Virginia Woolf once observed, human character changed and, along with it, so did everything else. Politics, society, religion, sex, all of it, she thought, would leave the ancien regime behind. And, to a point, she was correct. Within a few years, the old world was gone, swept away by war and revolution. It was not coming back. Ever. Somehow, listening to the marvelous musical products of modern big bands, Woolf seems oddly relevant. The level ...

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Album Review

Dave Slonaker Big Band: Convergency

Read "Convergency" reviewed by Jack Bowers


While big-band albums generally differ, sometimes widely, in tone and temperament, there are definitive criteria by which every one may be evaluated--arrangements, performers, sound quality, sequencing and, above all, the elusive but imperative swing quotient. Dave Slonaker checks all those boxes and more on Convergency, a superlative successor to his excellent Grammy-nominated debut album, Intrada, released in 2013. To begin with, Slonaker, best known as a film and television composer, is an excellent big-band writer and arranger, ...

9
Album Review

Dave Slonaker Big Band: Convergency

Read "Convergency" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Composer/conductor Dave Slonaker probably won't qualify as “prolific," at least based on recorded output alone, as he spends a lot of his time behind the scenes in film and television work—but one must appreciate the level of craftsmanship that he brings to his big band projects. His debut release, Intrada (Origin Records, 2014), received a well-earned Grammy nomination, and his sophomore effort is no less accomplished, with the well-designed compositions and outstanding ensemble work that justify all the attention it ...

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Recording

Schroeder & Masters Celebrate Clark Terry

Schroeder & Masters Celebrate Clark Terry

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Clark Terry was many things. He was a superb trumpeter and flugelhornist, he was an elegant gentleman, he was a mentor to many musicians and he was as comfortable in a big band as he was in a small group. Clark was also an excellent composer, as baritone saxophonist Adam Schroeder and arranger Mark Masters know well. The pair have just released CT!: Adam Schroeder & Mark Masters Celebrate Clark Terry (Capri), the finest album I've heard this year, and ...

Primary Instrument

Saxophone, baritone

Location

Los Angeles

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

CT!

Capri Records
2024

buy

Pain & Beauty

Self Pulished
2023

buy

ArtWork

Cavalry Productions
2023

buy

Convergency

Origin Records
2022

buy

The Jazz All Stars...

Le Coq Records
2021

buy

Serenade to a Bus Seat

From: CT!
By Adam Schroeder

Convergency

From: Convergency
By Adam Schroeder

A Hawkeye, A Hoosier, & Two Cali Cats

From: Let's
By Adam Schroeder

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