Jeff Schwartz is a bassist, scholar, and central figure in Los Angeles’ experimental and improvised music circles. He co-leads the Decisive Instant large ensemble, is principal bass of MESTO, performs with the Vicente Chamber Orchestra and Santa Monica Symphony, and appears regularly in ensembles dedicated to new, improvised, and contemporary classical music. He has worked with Anthony Braxton, Glenn Branca, Dana Reason, Nicole Mitchell, Elliott Levin, Adam Rudolph, and many others. Schwartz holds a PhD in American Studies from Bowling Green State University, with additional studies at the Creative Music Studio, the University of Texas at Austin, UC Santa Cruz, St. John’s College, and the Vancouver Creative Music Institute. He is the author of a widely read online biography of Albert Ayler, as well as Free Jazz: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge, 2018) and Free Jazz (SUNY Press, 2022). His writing appears in American Music, Popular Music, Postmodern Culture, Notes, Kirkus Reviews, Critical Studies in Improvisation, AllAboutJazz, and A Basic Music Library. Schwartz co-leads the Present Quartet, Intangible, and the Soapbox, and maintains collaborative projects with Andrea Centazzo, Jack Curtis Dubowsky, Anna Homler, and others. With MESTO, he has toured the Middle East performing Arabic music, and he continues to work widely throughout Southern California’s orchestral and experimental scenes.

---

---