Gary Bartz

Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940, Baltimore, Maryland) is an American alto and soprano saxophonist and clarinetist.

Biography
Bartz graduated from the Baltimore City College high school and The Juilliard School; his break into the music industry came when filling in with Art Blakey's band at his father's club in Baltimore.

Bartz has played with Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, and Jackie McLean. His group, the Ntu Troop, combined soul, funk, African music, hard bop, and avant-garde jazz.

In liner notes to his album released in 1995, The Red and Orange Poems, Bartz was described by jazz critic Stanley Crouch as "one of the very best who has ever picked up the instrument". He has recorded more than 40 solo albums and over 200 as a guest artist. He won a Grammy Award in 2005 for his playing on McCoy Tyner's album Illuminations.

He currently teaches at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, when not touring. On the campus website, he is quoted as saying that musicians don't recognise categories and great music transcends labels like classical and jazz.

As sideman


With The Rance Allen Group With Gene Ammons With Kenny Burrell With Donald Byrd With Norman Connors With Miles Davis With Antonio Hart With Phyllis Hyman With Barney McAll
 * Say My Friend (1977)
 * Goodbye (Prestige, 1974)
 * Ellington Is Forever Volume Two (Fantasy, 1975)
 * Stepping into Tomorrow (1974)
 * Caricatures (1976)
 * Invitation
 * Slewfoot
 * This is Your Life
 * Invitation
 * Love from the Sun
 * Dance of Magic: Live at the Nemu Jazz Inn
 * Romantic Journey
 * Saturday Night Special
 * The Cellar Door Sessions (1970)
 * Live-Evil
 * Bitches Brew Live (2011)
 * Don't You Know That I Care (1992)
 * You Know How to Love Me
 * Phyllis Hyman
 * Can't We Fall in Love Again?
 * Release The Day (2001)

With Grachan Moncur III
 * Exploration (2004)

With Alphonse Mouzon
 * Virtue (1976)

With Rare Silk With Max Roach With Pharoah Sanders
 * New Weave
 * Members, Don't Git Weary (Atlantic, 1968)
 * Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmun Umyun) (Impulse!, 1970)

With Woody Shaw
 * Blackstone Legacy (1970)
 * Rosewood (1977)
 * For Sure! (1980)
 * United (1981)

With Sphere
 * Sphere (1987) - Verve

With Charles Tolliver
 * Paper Man (1969) - Black Lion Records

With Bob Thiele Collective
 * Lion Hearted (1993)

With McCoy Tyner
 * Expansions (1968)
 * Cosmos (1970)
 * Extensions (1970)
 * Asante (1970)
 * Sama Layuca (1974)
 * Focal Point (1976)
 * Looking Out (1982)
 * Dimensions (1984)
 * McCoy Tyner and the Latin All-Stars (1999)
 * Illuminations (2004)

With Chip White
 * Harlem Sunset (Postcards Records, with Steve Nelson, Robin Eubanks, Claudio Roditi)