Anton Schwartz: The Slow Lane

With a rich, brawny tenor saxophone tone, Anton Schwartz leads this quartet through a program of slow ballads and medium-tempo fare. His warm saxophone sound captivates the heart and lets you forget the harsh realities. Music for a rainy day? Could be. However, everyone solos and breathes so much subliminal creative energy into the session that things never dull.

Schwartz's title track moves unhurriedly with a blues feeling that recalls the expressive wealth of Stanley Turrentine. His web site indicates that the saxophonist studied with Warne Marsh and Eddie Daniels in New York before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area. Schwartz's treatment of standards "Along Came Betty" and "Chelsea Bridge" bring fresh ideas to the forum. Jazz is now at a turning point in its history, where it is counterproductive to copy tradition and harmful to pioneer in too radical a fashion. By flavoring the past with innovative improvisation Schwartz holds fast to jazz's core approach. Swinging with a natural feel for the music and drawing each piece through creative waters, Anton Schwartz brings to his sophomore recording a glimmer of hope for the future of this genre.