Gary Bartz

GARY Bartz laughs heartily when asked if he’s had the chance to play much during lockdown. “I play music all day long!” he retorts. “I don’t need an audience. Most of the musician’s work is done without an audience. No-one has ever, or will they ever, learn music. You can only study music, that’s all you can do.”

Now 80, alto saxophonist Bartz is a vibrant and engaging personality who connects numerous eras of jazz (though he himself dislikes the term – “I call it music”). He grew up playing along to Charlie Parker on AM radio, joined the bands of hard-bop legends like Art Blakey, Max Roach and Miles Davis, and was at the vanguard of spiritual jazz alongside his friend Pharoah Sanders, before moving into jazz-funk in the 1970s. Now, with his playing as bright and nimble as ever, he’s been tapped up for collaborations by a new generation of musicians, including Maisha and the Jazz Is Dead crew.

“I always say, music has no shelf-life,” says Bartz. “If it’s good, it’s forever. So [if new generations are listening to my music], that’s a good sign.” After two albums in the last two years, he’s back on a roll. “Now the record industry has collapsed and ate its own, I can record every day if I want to. I could do a record every week, I have so many ideas!”

ART BLAKEY & THE JAZZ MESSENGERS

SOUL FINGER

LIMELIGHT, 1965

The 24-year-old Bartz makes an auspicious recording debut, although his fine alto sax work goes uncredited