Jack Schantz

Trumpet

John (Jack) Schantz has had a varied career with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and many orchestras in Northeast Ohio. He joined the CJO in 1988 and in 2004 was appointed Artistic Director, succeeding his mentor Roland Paolucci. In 2001, he became the Coordinator of Jazz Studies at the University of Akron, and in 2002 became a charter member of the Cleveland Pops Orchestra. Prior to these accomplishments he performed at the Montreaux Jazz Festival and began a long association with Buddy Morrow and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He toured Japan with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the southern U.S. with the Artie Shaw Orchestra. As a free-lance musician, Jack has played dozens of Broadway shows, and performed in concert with Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughn, Tony Bennett, Jack Jones, Cleo Laine, Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, Andrea Boccelli, and Diane Schuur.  He has also performed with the Akron Symphony and the Blossom Festival Band and Orchestra. In 2005, he served as Cultural Ambassador for the City of Akron, traveling to Akron’s sister city, Chemnitz Germany and performing a number of concerts throughout the former East Germany with his quartet. He has recorded with Oscar Peterson (Christmas Album), Phil Woods (Come Right In), Nancy Wilson (Turned To Blue), Barbara Knight (Night and Day), Cleveland Jazz Orchestra (Swingin’ Together with Sammy Nestico, Traditions, Live in Believeland, Jazz Vespers,  and The Surprise of Being), Paul Ferguson (Friends,  Encounter, Big Band Christmas), the Jazz Unit (Choices, The Way Of  The Sly Man), Dave Morgan (Blue is More Than A Color), and his own quartet ( Speechless, I Love To Tell The Story).