[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 132 (Tuesday, September 15, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN RECOGNITION OF GARY BARTZ

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 15, 2015

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the extraordinary 
achievements of legendary saxophonist and educator Gary Bartz. A 
highly-talented instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and leader--Mr. 
Bartz's long career deserves our applause.
  Mr. Bartz started playing at an early age with Art Blakey at his 
father's jazz club in his hometown of Baltimore, MD. Fifty-seven years 
later, he is an international sensation, earning a Grammy Award in 2005 
for his and McCoy Tyner's ``Illuminations.'' Over the course of his 
career, he has recorded over 40 solo albums and made guest appearances 
on over 200 more.
  Gary Bartz first came to New York in 1958, at just 17 years old, to 
attend the Julliard Conservatory of Music. He remembers those days 
fondly, saying, ``It was a very good time for the music in New York, at 
the end of what had been the be-bop era. Charlie Parker had passed away 
three years previously but Miles' group was in its heyday, Monk was 
down at the Five Spot, and Ornette Coleman was just coming to town. 
Things were fresh.'' He spent much of his time drinking Coca-Cola in 
the all-ages ``peanut gallery'' at Birdland, where he enjoyed a 
marathon bill of performers. Reflecting on his musical youth, he has 
said, ``If I didn't have money to get in, I'd help somebody carry a 
drum to work my way in.''
  From 1962-64, Mr. Bartz participated in Charles Mingus' Workshop and 
began practicing regularly with fellow members of the horn section, 
including Eric Dolphy. By the mid '60s, the alto saxophonist, still in 
his early 20s, began performing throughout the city with the Max Roach/
Abbey Lincoln Group, and quickly established himself as the most 
promising alto voice since Cannonball Adderley.
  With the splash of his New York debut solidly behind him, Mr. Bartz 
joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. The young saxophonist's parents 
owned a club in Baltimore called the North End Lounge. When his father 
hired Blakey for a gig, Mr. Bartz grabbed the opportunity to fill a sax 
player vacancy in the band. After his performance that night, he was 
officially hired to join the Jazz Messengers. In 1965, he would make 
his recording debut on Blakey's ``Soulfinger'' album.
  In 1968, Mr. Bartz began an association with McCoy Tyner, which 
included participating in Tyner's classic ``Expansions'' and 
``Extentions'' albums. Work with McCoy proved especially significant 
for Mr. Bartz because of the bandleader's strong connection to John 
Coltrane. During his first two years with Tyner, Mr. Bartz was also 
touring with Max Roach and taking some time out to record on Max's 
Atlantic Records release, ``Members Don't Get Weary.'' ``With Max, 
there was that bond with Charlie Parker,'' declares Bartz. ``Charlie 
Parker is why I play the alto saxophone.''
  Mr. Bartz began working with Miles Davis in 1970, his first 
experience playing electric music. It also reaffirmed his yen for an 
even stronger connection to Coltrane. In addition to working with Miles 
in the early '70s--including playing the historic Isle of Wight 
Festival in August, 1970--Mr. Bartz was busy fronting his own NTU Troop 
ensemble. The group got its name from the Bantu language: NTU means 
unity in all things, time and space, living and dead, seen and unseen.
  Outside the Troop, Mr. Bartz had been recording as a group leader 
since 1968, and continued to do so throughout the '70s, during which 
time he released such acclaimed albums as, ``Another Earth,'' ``Home,'' 
``Music Is My Sanctuary'' and ``Love Affair.'' By the late '70s, he was 
doing studio work in Los Angeles with Norman Connors and Phyllis Hyman. 
In 1988, after a nine-year break between solo releases, Mr. Bartz began 
recording what music columnist Gene Kalbacher described as ``Vital ear-
opening sides,'' on such albums as ``Monsoon,'' ``West 42nd Street,'' 
``There Goes The Neighborhood,'' and ``Shadows.''
  Mr. Bartz followed those impressive works in 1995 with the release of 
his debut Atlantic album ``The Red and Orange Poems,'' a self-described 
musical mystery novel and just one of his brilliantly conceived concept 
albums. Back when he masterminded the much-touted ``I've Known Rivers'' 
album, based on the poetry of Langston Hughes, his concepts would be 
twenty years ahead of those held by some of today's jazz/hip hop and 
acid jazz combos. So it continues with ``The Blues Chronicles: Tales of 
Life,'' a testimonial to a steadfast belief in the power of music to 
soothe, challenge, spark a crowd to complete ecstasy, or move one 
person to think. It adds up to a shoe box full of musical snapshots 
from a life lived and played with passion and stirred--with both joy 
and sadness--by the blues.
  Mr. Bartz's release ``Live at the Jazz Standard Volume 1--Soulstice'' 
is the first of a series of recordings documenting his legendary, non-
stop style, live performances. This initial release on his own OYO 
label bares testimony to Bartz's continuing growth as a composer, group 
leader, and a master of both the alto and soprano saxophones. A quartet 
session recorded in 1998, was followed by ``Live at the Jazz Standard, 
Volume 2'' released in 2000, which features Mr. Bartz's exciting 
Sextet. His follow-up release ``Soprano Stories'' features Mr. Bartz 
exclusively performing on the soprano saxophone in a studio quartet 
setting.
  His follow-up album to the highly acclaimed ``Volume 1 of the 
Coltrane Files, Toa of a Music Warrior,'' will be released in 2015, 
along with his album honoring Woody Shaw entitled ``Two MF's'.''
  When he is not on the road or preparing new music, Mr. Bartz serves 
as a professor in the Jazz Studies Department of the Oberlin 
Conservatory of Music.
  Mr. Bartz performs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 
Annual Legislative Conference Jazz Concert on September 17, 2015. On 
that occasion, I will be presenting him with the Foundation's Jazz 
Legacy Award. Next month, he will be honored with the BNY Mellon Jazz 
2015 Living Legacy Award in a special ceremony at the John F. Kennedy 
Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, October 16, 2015.
  Gary Bartz is an extraordinary musician that has made a remarkable 
contribution to Jazz music and world culture. For these reasons, I urge 
you to join me in congratulating him for these awards and his lifetime 
of outstanding accomplishments.

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