About
Jake Ezra Schwartz is the guitarist for The Book of Mormon on Broadway, the 2011 Tony Award and Grammy Award winning Best Musical.
Jake also plays with his funk-rock quartet VAN DAVIS with Abena Koomson, Patrick Carmichael, and Jon Price (www.vandavis.com), as well as in a classical guitar duo with Bill Girolamo.
Jake has performed with Stevie Wonder, Alex Skolnick, Dave Fiuczynski, Alan Menken, Jarrod Spector, Laura Bell Bundy, and "Papa" Denny Doherty. Additionally, he originated the guitar/mandolin chair on the 2009 Broadway show 9 to 5, working and recording with Dolly Parton.
One of his lifelong dreams was to meet his ultimate guitar hero Eddie Van Halen, who after attending Mormon, graciously signed Jake's guitar "Got crazy VH (Van Halen) style, Jake!!". Recently Jake was featured in the premiere issue of Unbuilt magazine (interview by Alex Skolnick), Premier Guitar magazine, and the Everyone Loves Guitar podcast.