Anthony Bruno

Anthony Bruno grew up in Elk Grove Village, a small town outside of Chicago. At 18, he moved to Chicago to attend DePaul University. There, he studied music education and played in the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Bob Lark. He studied with Mark Colby, Larry Novak, Bob Palmieri, Bobby Broom, and Tom Matta.

While at DePaul he was immersed in Chicago's vast scene of working musicians. Here he honed skills at playing a wide variety of music styles.

After graduating with a B.M. in Music Education, Anthony began playing and teaching music throughout the city. He has gained a reputation as an outstanding saxman as well as a fine doubler on clarinet and flute. He has played with big names such as R. Kelly, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Wynton Marsalis, Gerald Clayton, Doc Severinsen, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Sean Jones, and Phil Woods. He has also performed in two Universal Pictures Movies, "Public Enemies" with Johny Depp and Diana Krall, and "The Express", where you can hear him soloing during the dance scene at Syracuse University.

Anthony has maintained regular gigs with the finest big bands in Chicago including the Alan Gresik Swingshift Orchestra, playing every Thursday at the Green Mill, the Ian Torres Big Band, the John Burnett Orchestra, and The Model Citizens Big Band. He is grateful for the opportunities he has had performing at exciting music festivals throughout the country such as Riot Fest, North Coast Music Festival, Umbrella Music Festival, Jazz Education Network Conference, Festival Cubano, and the Fox Jazz Festival.

Anthony continues to play throughout the city and the country as a freelance saxophonist. His current projects include his neo soul/urban fusion band Vertikal. Anthony is recently involved in another new and exciting project known as Adolphe'S Ax led by Cameron Pfiffner. We will be playing shows throughout Chicago and later the world. Charles Mantis featuring Starshipbruno as well as TAL sounds are both two electronic music collaborations that afford Anthony great musical exploration. The track Run is a collaboration with Charles Mantis and Still Life is performed with TAL.

Anthony serves as the Director of Jazz Studies at the Chicago High School for the Arts, where he directs combos and teaches saxophone technique. He has taken the ChiArts Honors Jazz Combo to the Jazz Education Network (JEN) Conference in Atalanta in 2013 and will take the combo on a tour, in conjunction with the Thelonious Monk Institute, of Jazz to Austin and San Antonio, Texas in March of 2014. He also teaches a course, Professional Development, where he helps high school students make college, life, and profession choices.