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Sylvain Carton Saxophonist, flautist, guitarist, composer, educator
photo by Stephen Barncard Originally from France, Sylvain Carton is a multi-instrumentalist and composer currently residing in San Francisco. An accomplished saxophonist and guitarist, Sylvain tours and records regularly with John Vanderslice and a number of groups representing a variety of musical genres and traditions, such as The Mitch Marcus Quintet, Aphrodesia, The Japonize Elephants, Spaceblaster, Khi Darag, Lord Loves a Working Man, Beats Antique, and The Garlando Nonet.	As a composer, Carton writes for The Japonize Elephants, an eclectic ensemble of seven to twelve musicians playing vibes, violin, bass, guitar, banjo, accordion, junk percussion, trumpet, flute, and saxophones, who like to refer to their music as cinematic-circus-gypsy-bluegrass-klezmer-jazz. He also writes extensively for his own jazz quartet in addition to the Mitch Marcus Quintet, the MMQ + 13 big band, and the 12-piece afro-funk ensemble Aphrodesia. His compositions for big band won a "Subito" grant from the American Composer's Forum. Sylvain has also composed chamber music for small orchestra, string quartet, brass quintet, saxophone quartet, solo pieces for voice, tuba, cello, guitar, saxophone, and clarinet, and has been commissioned to write music for a documentary aired on PBS, several independent films, and Oakland's 'Counterpointe' dance company. Sylvain Carton holds a BM in Jazz Performance from the Indiana University School of Music at Bloomington, where he studied with David Baker, Eugene Rousseau, Tom Walsh, and Shirley Diamond, as well as an M.A. in music composition from UC Santa Cruz, where he co-directed the Latin American Music Ensemble. In addition to performing and composing, Sylvain is a Vandoren Performing Artist and Artistic Advisor.

As a composer, Carton writes for The Japonize Elephants, an eclectic ensemble of seven to twelve musicians playing vibes, violin, bass, guitar, banjo, accordion, junk percussion, trumpet, flute, and saxophones, who like to refer to their music as cinematic-circus-gypsy-bluegrass-klezmer-jazz. He also writes extensively for his own jazz quartet in addition to the Mitch Marcus Quintet, the MMQ + 13 big band, and the 12-piece afro-funk ensemble Aphrodesia. His compositions for big band won a "Subito" grant from the American Composer's Forum. Sylvain has also composed chamber music for small orchestra, string quartet, brass quintet, saxophone quartet, solo pieces for voice, tuba, cello, guitar, saxophone, and clarinet, and has been commissioned to write music for a documentary aired on PBS, several independent films, and Oakland's 'Counterpointe' dance company.

Sylvain Carton holds a BM in Jazz Performance from the Indiana University School of Music at Bloomington, where he studied with David Baker, Eugene Rousseau, Tom Walsh, and Shirley Diamond, as well as an M.A. in music composition from UC Santa Cruz, where he co-directed the Latin American Music Ensemble.

In addition to performing and composing, Sylvain is a Vandoren Performing Artist and Artistic Advisor.