ANTONIO HART

Born in Baltimore, Maryland he is a young man who "shedded" enough to get a great local rep, and decided to head to Boston and the Berklee School of Music for a stretch of advance study. There he met trumpeter Roy Hargrove with whom he shares an impressive musical rapport (they both play on each others RCA Novus recordings). His name trickled down to Manhattan and by spring '91 he was there to stay. Antonio began recording for the RCA Novus label, 1991 - 1994, all three discs received rave reviews. In 1997 he moved on to Impulse! and received for the first time the Grammy nod for "The Community", the opening track of his debut album. -

In 1998 Antonio was awarded first place in the Talent Deserving Wider Recognition category in the Down Beat Critics poll. In the next two years he took some time off, spending it mostly in Cuba both studying and teaching. "I want to show that I am not one-dimensional. I don't just play straight ahead. I listen to more world music now: Egyptian, Arabian, West African, Latin. And a lot of classical European, Bartok, Shostakovich, Ravel." When eminent Lebanese composer/oud player Rabih Abou-Khalil put together his ensemble for the recording of The Cactus Of Knowledge (ENJ-9401- 2,8,9) Antonio was the natural choice for the alto saxophone chair.
Antonio Hart is an ENJA recording artist.