David Schnitter

David Schnitter stands out as a superb hard bop tenor saxophonist whose chief inspiration came from Dexter Gordon. His ascent within jazz circles during the 1970s occurred ahead of the so-called “young lions,” although his public presence has remained far more limited since the early 1980s. Schnitter began on clarinet yet made a definitive change to tenor saxophone at age 15. Local performances preceded his move to New York, where he worked with Ted Dunbar before becoming a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1974 to 1979. He then collaborated with Freddie Hubbard between 1979 and 1981 and maintained further ties to Frank Foster, Charles Earland, and Groove Holmes. Schnitter delivered strong performances across numerous albums with Blakey and during his own leadership dates for Muse from 1976 to 1981, yet comparatively little has emerged from him in subsequent decades.