Randy Weston

For the Ohio politician, see Randy Weston (politician).

Randy Weston
(photographer: Bob Travis)
Background information
Born	April 6, 1926 (1926-04-06)
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, USA
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Pianist, Composer, Bandleader
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1950s–present
Labels	Motéma Music Verve Riverside Antilles
Website	www.RandyWeston.info

Randy Weston (born April 6, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York), is an American jazz pianist and composer, of Jamaican parentage.

Biography

Weston studied classical piano as a child. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he ran a restaurant that was frequented by many of the leading bebop musicians. Among his piano heroes are numbered Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Art Tatum and Duke Ellington (and Wynton Kelly was a cousin), but it was Thelonious Monk who had the greatest impact.

Weston has had a considerable career in jazz as a pianist, composer, and bandleader. In the late 1940s he began gigging with bands including Bullmoose Jackson, Frank Culley and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson. He worked with Kenny Dorham in 1953 and in 1954 with Cecil Payne, before forming his own trio and quartet and releasing his debut recording as a leader in 1954, Cole Porter In a Modern Mood. He was voted New Star Pianist in Down Beat magazine's International Critics' Poll of 1955. Several fine albums followed, with the best being Little Niles near the end of that decade. Melba Liston provided excellent arrangements for a sextet playing several of Weston's best compositions: the title track, "Earth Birth," "Babe's Blues," and others.

Randy Weston's piano style owes much to Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk (he has paid direct tribute to both on the "portraits" albums), but it is highly distinctive in its qualities: percussive, highly rhythmic, capable of producing a wide variety of moods.

In the 1960s, Weston's music prominently incorporated African elements, as shown on the large-scale suite Uhuru Africa (with the participation of poet Langston Hughes) and Highlife: Music From the New African Nations; on both these albums he teamed up with the arranger Melba Liston. In addition, during these years his band often featured the tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin. He covered the Nigerian Bobby Benson's piece "Niger Mambo", which included Caribbean and jazz elements within a Highlife style. Weston has recorded this number many times throughout his career.

In 1967 Weston traveled throughout Africa with a U.S. cultural delegation. The last stop of the tour was Morocco, where he decided to settle, running his African Rhythms Club from 1967 to 1972. In 1972 he produced "Blue Moses" for the CTI label; here, out of character he played electric piano, but this proved to be a best-selling record.

For a long stretch Weston recorded infrequently on smaller record labels. However, he made quite an impact with the two-CD recording The Spirits of Our Ancestors (recorded 1991; released 1992), which featured arrangements by his long-time collaborator Melba Liston. The album contained new, expanded versions of many of his well-known pieces and featured an ensemble including some African musicians. Guests such as Dizzy Gillespie and Pharoah Sanders also contributed.

Randy Weston has since produced a series of albums in a variety of formats: solo, trio, mid-sized groups, and collaborations with the Gnawa musicians of Morocco. Weston's best known compositions include "Hi-Fly" (which he has said was inspired by his experience of being 6' 8" and looking down at the ground), "Little Niles" (named for his son, later known as Azzedine), "African Sunrise," "Blue Moses," "The Healers" and "Berkshire Blues." Regarded as jazz standards, they have frequently been recorded by other prominent musicians, among them: Cannonball Adderley, Monty Alexander, Ray Baretto, Joe Beck, Art Blakey, Roy Brooks, Ray Bryant, Kenny Burrell, Betty Carter, Ron Carter, Johnny Coles, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Dexter Gordon, Lionel Hampton, Sheila Hampton, Stefon Harris, Jimmy Heath, Jon Hendricks, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Abdullah Ibrahim, Ahmad Jamal, Talib Kibwe, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Abbey Lincoln, Jan Lundgren, Cecil Payne, Oscar Pettiford, John Renbourn, Max Roach, George Shearing, Archie Shepp, Carly Simon, Jimmy Smith, Jacky Terrasson, Mel Tormé and Mark Whitfield.

After more than five decades devoted to music, Randy Weston continues to perform throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Europe. In 2002 he performed with bassist James Lewis for the inauguration of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt. That same year he performed with Gnawa musicians at Canterbury Cathedral at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He had the honour of playing at the Kamigamo Shrine in Japan in 2005. He has been the recipient of many international awards, including: in 1997 the French Order of Arts and Letters; in 1999 the Japan's Swing Journal Award; and in 2000 the Black Star Award from the Arts Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana. In June 2006, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Music by Brooklyn College, City University of New York. In October 2010, Duke University Press published African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston, "composed by Randy Weston, arranged by Willard Jenkins".

Discography

as leader

• 1954: Cole Porter in a Modern Mood (Riverside)
• 1955: Get Happy with the Randy Weston Trio (Riverside)
• 1955: Randy Weston Solo, Duo, Trio with Art Blakey (Riverside)
• 1956: How High the Moon (Collectables Records)
• 1956: The Modern Art of Jazz
• 1956: With These Hands (Riverside)
• 1958: New Faces at Newport (MetroJazz Records)
• 1957: Piano à la Mode (Jubilee)
• 1959: Little Niles (Blue Note)
• 1959: Destry Rides Again (United Artists)
• 1959: Live at the Five Spot (United Artists)
• 1960: Uhuru Afrika (Capitol)
• 1960: Greenwich Village Jazz (Jazz A La Bohemia) (Jazzland)
• 1963: Highlife with Melba Liston (Colpix)
• 1964: African Cookbook (Atlantic)
• 1965: Berkshire Blues
• 1966: Monterey, '66 (Verve)
• 1972: Blue Moses (CTI)
• 1973: Tanjah (Polydor)
• 1974: Blues To Africa (Freedom Records)
• 1974: Carnival (Freedom)
• 1975: African Nite
• 1975: African Rhythms (Chant du Monde)
• 1976: Perspective (Denon)
• 1976: Randy Weston (Pausa Records)
• 1978: Rhythms-Sounds Piano (Cora)
• 1980: The Healers with David Murray (Black Saint)
• 1984: Blue (Arch)
• 1989: Portraits of Duke Ellington (Verve)
• 1989: Portraits of Thelonious Monk (Verve)
• 1989: Self Portraits (Verve)
• 1991: Spirits of Our Ancestors (Verve)
• 1993: Volcano Blues (Verve/Gitanes)
• 1994: Marrakech in the Cool of the Evening (Verve/Gitanes)
• 1995: Saga (Verve)
• 1997: Earth Birth [featuring Montreal String Orchestra] (Verve)
• 1998: Khepera (Verve)
• 1999: Spirit! The Power of Music (Arkadia)
• 2002: Ancient Future (Mutable)
• 2004: Nuit Africa (Enja Records)
• 2006: Zep Tepi (Random Chance)
• 2009: The Storyteller (Motéma Music)

As sideman

With Charles Mingus

• Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert (Columbia, 1972)

External links

• Randy Weston official site
• "Pianist Randy Weston performs 'The Healers' " for the WGBH series, Say Brother
• "Profile: Randy Weston" by Arnold Jay Smith, (Jazz.com)
• Randy Weston with Gnawa musicians video
• Randy Weston Interview at allaboutjazz.com