Biography
26 September 1940, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Bartz, whose father ran a jazz club, began playing alto saxophone at the age of 11. He played in the Alabama State Teachers College band, at his father’s club, and studied at the Juilliard School of Music, New York, and the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. He worked with Lee Morgan and Grachan Moncur III, but his first regular professional engagement was with the Max Roach / Abbey Lincoln band in 1964. From 1965-66 he was one of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, then had a second stint with Roach and periods with Charles Tolliver, Blue Mitchell and McCoy Tyner (in what Tyner once described as the happiest and most integrated band he had ever led). For 18 months beginning in August 1970 he was with Miles Davis (Live-Evil), in 1972 formed Nu Troop, and during the 70s moved further into the funk fusion field. In recent years he has returned to the hard bop fold, a genre that shows off his assertive and agile...
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