Draft:Dave Schumacher
American jazz baritone saxophonist
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David "Dave" Schumacher is an American jazz baritone saxophonist, composer, and arranger from Chicago, Illinois. He toured and recorded as a sideman with bandleaders Lionel Hampton in the 1980s and Harry Connick Jr. from 1990 to 2009, and leads the Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble Cubeye.
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- Jazz
- Afro-Cuban jazz
- Latin jazz
- Saxophonist
- Composer
- Arranger
- Bandleader
- Baritone saxophone
- Tenor saxophone
- Clarinet
- Flute
Dave Schumacher | |
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| Born | David Schumacher Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres |
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| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1980s–present |
| Member of | Cubeye |
| Formerly of |
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Early life and education
Schumacher is a native of Chicago, Illinois.[1] According to his own published biography, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in music from Rutgers University and a Master of Music in jazz performance from New Jersey City University.[2]
Career
Lionel Hampton and Harry Connick Jr. orchestras
Schumacher was a member of Lionel Hampton's orchestra from 1983 to 1987, and again in 1988 and 1989, touring the Americas and Europe.[3][4] In 1987 he toured Japan with the Art Blakey Big Band, performing at the Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival.[3] A 2006 All About Jazz review described him as a veteran of the New York jazz scene who had "explored the deep, dark end of the baritone's sound ... in his work with Lionel Hampton, Tom Harrell and T. S. Monk."[1]
Schumacher was an original member of Harry Connick Jr.'s touring orchestra from its formation in 1990 until it disbanded in 2009, touring North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.[3][4] His baritone saxophone appears on multiple Connick studio albums released on Columbia Records, including Blue Light, Red Light (1991), Star Turtle (1996), Come by Me (1999), and Songs I Heard (2001), which won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2002.[4]
He subsequently toured the United States and Europe with the T. S. Monk "Monk on Monk" ensemble (1999–2000) and toured Europe with the Tom Harrell Octet (2000).[3] His other sideman credits include Nicholas Payton's Louis Armstrong Tribute Big Band, Joe Lovano's 52nd Street Themes Nonet, the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, and Chico O'Farrill's Afro-Cuban Big Band.[3]
In a 2005 review for the Newark Star-Ledger of a Rutgers University faculty-and-alumni jazz showcase at the Blue Note in New York, critic Zan Stewart singled out Schumacher's "appealingly croaky sound" on a rendition of "Street of Dreams," alongside fellow alumni performers including trombonist Conrad Herwig and pianist Stanley Cowell.[5]
Schumacher has an entry in The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz by Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler (Oxford University Press, 1999), a reference work covering 3,300 jazz musicians.[a]
Schumacher has also led organ-quartet and quartet engagements in Chicago with tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon, a collaboration the two have maintained since the late 1970s.[b] Reviewing a 2007 appearance by the David Schumacher/Jerry Weldon Organ Quartet at Chicago's Green Mill Jazz Club for the Chicago Tribune, critic Howard Reich wrote that the quartet as a whole was a "mixed blessing" that "never fully cohered as a unit," but singled out Schumacher as having "emerged as the driving force in this ensemble," praising a solo combination of "speed and fullness of tone" that he called "a volcanic eruption of intricate, gnarly solos."[6] Reviewing a later appearance by the renamed Schumacher-Weldon Quartet for the same paper in 2019, Reich again praised Schumacher's playing, describing a solo on "I Can't Get Started" as "an essay of remarkable melodic complexity and tonal sheen" that offered "proof positive that the contemporary baritone saxophone can sing as openly and warmly as any higher-pitched reed instrument."[7]
Recordings as leader
As a bandleader, Schumacher released two albums on the independent label Amosaya Music: Every Corner and From Another Life.[3] In 2006, he released Endangered Species on Summit Records, a sextet date mixing Afro-Cuban rhythm, organ-trio textures, and spoken word.[1] Reviewing the album for All About Jazz, Dan McClenaghan wrote that Schumacher's playing explored "the deep, dark end of the baritone's sound, including the grumbles and growls" and called the record "an exceptionally fine effort."[1]
Cubeye
In the 2020s, Schumacher began leading Cubeye, a New York–based Afro-Cuban jazz octet. The group's debut album, Smoke in the Sky, was released on Cellar Music in April 2024.[8] The album drew reviews from multiple jazz and arts outlets. Writing in The Arts Fuse, critic Brooks Geiken called it "a tight Latin jazz outfit that embraces great horn charts and explosive percussion," and wrote that "the driving force of Smoke in the Sky is the swinging baritone of Schumacher, who proves to be a modern master of both idioms, jazz and Latin music."[9] Reviewing the album for Musical Memoirs, Dee Dee McNeil wrote that Schumacher's "baritone sax solos are outstanding" and that his "arrangements are inspired and fresh"; a similar review by McNeil also ran in Making a Scene.[10][11] Writing for Paris Move, Thierry De Clemensat described the record as drawing on "all the culture amassed over a lifetime of artistry."[12] The album also received reviews in The JW Vibe, Jazzhalo (Belgium), and Jazzquad (Russia).[13][14][15] In a year-end roundup for Jazz de la Peña, critic Tomás Peña included Smoke in the Sky among his picks for 2024, writing that "Cubeye is an ensemble to watch."[16]
Cubeye's second album, Agua Con Gas, was released on Schumacher's own Cubeye Music label on April 17, 2026.[17] The nine-track album was produced by Schumacher and co-produced by Hector Davila, recorded at Trading 8s Studio, and features a rotating personnel including trumpeters Alex Norris and Jesus Ricardo, pianists Manuel Valera and Silvano Monasterios, and guest baritone saxophonist Roger Rosenberg.[17] The album received reviews in several jazz publications. Writing in All About Jazz, Jack Bowers described Schumacher's playing as "brusque and brawny," noting that it evoked baritone players such as Ronnie Cuber, Gary Smulyan, Pepper Adams, Cecil Payne, and Nick Brignola.[17] George W. Harris of Jazz Weekly wrote that Schumacher "displays a gorgeously big and glorious tone" on the record.[18] Thierry De Clemensat, reviewing the album for the French outlet Paris Move, wrote that Schumacher's arranging drew the ensemble "into a singular sonic universe."[19] Writing for Sound In Review, Steven Miller described the album as "best understood as a project of arrangements and compositional architecture," praising its "structural coherence" across original compositions and reinterpreted material.[20]
The album's title track was conceived around Schumacher's stated musical approach of moving fluidly between Afro-Cuban rhythm and jazz swing within a single composition.[17][18] The album also includes Schumacher's arrangement of "Yambú," a piece by Cuban percussionist Tata Güines, and two compositions by baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber arranged by Schumacher as a tribute to Cuber.[21]
Teaching
According to Wharton Arts, the organization that operates the New Jersey Youth Symphony, Schumacher founded its jazz program in 2013 and serves as its inaugural Director of Jazz Workshops, and also maintains a private teaching studio for saxophone, clarinet, flute, and jazz improvisation at the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts in New Jersey.[22][c]
Awards and recognition
According to his own published biography, Schumacher received two Jazz Performance Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, in 1989 and 1995, and is a member of the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop.[2][d]
Discography
As leader
| Title | Year | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Every Corner | Amosaya Music | |
| From Another Life | Amosaya Music | |
| Endangered Species | 2006 | Summit Records |
| Smoke in the Sky (with Cubeye) | 2024 | Cellar Music |
| Agua Con Gas (with Cubeye) | 2026 | Cubeye Music |
As sideman (selected)
| Title | Artist | Year | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Light, Red Light | Harry Connick Jr. | 1991 | Columbia |
| The Great American Songbook | Mel Tormé | 1992 | Telarc |
| Star Turtle | Harry Connick Jr. | 1996 | Columbia |
| Come by Me | Harry Connick Jr. | 1999 | Columbia |
| Songs I Heard | Harry Connick Jr. | 2001 | Columbia |
Notes
- Citation needed: page number for the Schumacher entry in the 1999 or 2007 edition of The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz should be added once confirmed against a physical or library copy.
- The December 2019 Tribune review states the two had then been playing together for 40 years, placing the start of the collaboration around 1979.
- This source is affiliated with the subject (his employer's own staff bio) rather than fully independent, though it is used here only to verify a straightforward, non-promotional factual role.
- These claims are currently sourced only to the subject's own promotional materials. Independent verification—for example, in NEA fellowship recipient archives or BMI publications—would strengthen this section and should be sought before resubmission.
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