Tenor saxist Ben Schachter, a Philadelphia native, has been recognized as a composer with grants from the American Composers Forum (2003), Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (2001 and 2005), and Pew Fellowships in the Arts (1999). Holding degrees from Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, he taught at Berklee from 1986 through 1988, and at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, PA from 1991 until 1996.
In 2012, Schachter relocated with his wife from Arizona to San Diego, where he began teaching part time at a community college. “That’s how people in my line of work generally make a living and pay their bills,” he says, meaning modern-day jazz musicians. “By teaching...as opposed to having to wait for the phone to ring every day.”
Schachter has performed and recorded in the U.S., Europe, and Asia with; Tim Hagans, Conrad Herwig, John Zorn, Gary Bartz, Dick Oatts, Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Terell Stafford, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Uri Caine, George Garzone, Marc Ribot, Mark Dresser, John Swana, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Charles Fambrough, James Genus, Jef Lee Johnson, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Burhan Ocal, Jack Walrath, and others.