Home » Jazz Musicians » Dave Schildkraut

Dave Schildkraut

Dave Schildkraut first played professionally with Louis Prima in 1941.[1] Following this he played with Buddy Rich (1946), Anita O'Day (1947), Stan Kenton (1953–54), Pete Rugolo (1954), Oscar Pettiford (1954), Miles Davis ("Solar" on: Walkin', Prestige, 1954), George Handy (1955), Tony Aless (1955), Ralph Burns, Tito Puente, Johnny Richards, and Kenton again in 1959. From the 1960s, he played freelance in New York City, where he appeared regularly with Eddie Bert at the West End Cafe. Later in his life he went into semi-retirement.

He recorded only one album as a leader, in 1979. However, the album was released only in 2000 by Endgame Records as Last Date. By this time, Schidkraut's playing style was described as having adjusted from youthful mimicry of Parker to showing influence from the likes of John Coltrane, Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz.

Miles Davis: Walkin'

Read "Walkin'" reviewed by Douglas Payne

by Douglas Payne
November 1, 1999

This bop-era classic finds trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-91) leading two groups from two sessions in April 1954: a superb sextet and a compelling quintet. Both groups center on a blue-chip rhythm section consisting of pianist Horace Silver, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Kenny Clarke. But despite the rock solid foundation and substantial decoration these three provide, Walkin' is all about the horn players. Trombonist J.J. Johnson and tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson (returning to music after the first of ...

Video / DVD

Dave Schildkraut: Key Ingredient

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 30, 2020

Alto saxophonist Dave Schildkraut didn't record on a bad album. Except perhaps his own leadership session, at the tail end of his recording career in 1979. By then, he sounded coarse and tapped out. But if you look through his discography and listen to the recordings, the New York jazz session player managed to draw only aces. There isn't a dud in the bunch. Not even a slightly sub-par jazz recording. Schildkraut's sound was routinely and somewhat unfairly compared to ...
read more

Recording

Dave Schildkraut, Last Date, August 12, 1979

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
December 1, 2011

The fact that the name Dave Schildkraut doesn't always ring bells among the jazz cognoscenti constitutes one of the sad realities of jazz history. He appeared with a flourish on a Miles Davis Prestige session, Solar (on alto), in 1954. He played with some notables before and after that, and appeared as sideman on a few other records, but mostly was lost in a haze of obscurity. To me he epitomizes the “falling off the face of the earth" syndrome. ...
read more