Dave Schildkraut

Born on January 7, 1925, alto sax Dave Schildkraut first played professionally with Louis Prima in 1941. Following this he played with Buddy Rich (1946), Anita O'Day (1947), Stan Kenton (1953–1954), Pete Rugolo (1954), Oscar Pettiford (1954), Miles Davis (Schildkraut appears on the 1954 Prestige sessions that were part of "Solar" and "Walkin'," albums), George Handy (1955), Tony Aless (1955), Ralph Burns, Tito Puente, Johnny Richards, and Kenton again in 1959. From the 1960s, he played freelance in New York City, where he appeared regularly with Eddie Bert at the West End Cafe. Later in his life he went into semi-retirement.

Schildkraut's playing was fluid and brilliant in pure bebop style: so much so that, bassist Charles Mingus misidentified him as the iconic Charlie Parker during a "blindfold test" with jazz writer Leonard Feather that was published in Down Beat.

He recorded only...

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