Michael Weiss

My quartet's set from 1999 was slated to be included in Episode 3 but alas was bumped. MOMA was a great venue, great audience and Melanie Monios was a great producer. They did everything right.

I went to Echo Hill Ranch several summers in the 60s.

Check Smoke's website

I enjoyed some great times with Tootie over the years, in concerts with the three brothers, gigs at the Vanguard with Jimmy and Tootie and trio gigs at Smalls. Around Tootie you had to be on your toes on and off the bandstand, or you might get run over. Acerbic like a MF, but big fun always.

Thursday - Sunday, April 11-14 @Smoke, NYC George Coleman with Peter Bernstein (Russell Malone on Sunday) Michael Weiss John Webber Carl Allen

April 11-14 at Smoke with George Coleman, then Way Out West for a couple of trio gigs in AZ: April 19 – Ravenscroft, Scottsdale 7:00 April 20 – Century Room, Tucson 7:00

When I played a week at Bubba's in Fort Lauderdale with Jon Hendricks back in 1982, Eddie was in residence there and played solo piano in between our sets, any song in any key, wherever his fingers landed at the moment. It was great to hear him every night. Beautiful guy.

Jon Herington

George Coleman Quintet April 11-13, 2024 Smoke, NYC with Peter Bernstein, Michael Weiss, John Webber, Carl Allen

Couldn't make it happen. Not for lack of trying.

February 23 & 24 Smalls, NYC February 25 Cafe Django, NYC February 26 Little Branch, NYC February 27 Winnie's Jazz Bar, NYC March 2 Scullers Jazz Club, Boston March 5 Little Branch, NYC March 8 Ornithology, Brooklyn April 9 Little Branch, NYC April 19 Ravenscroft Jazzbird, Scottsdale April 20 Century Room, Tucson

Substantial archive there!

Larry was the real deal. I played with him once but it was a treat. In 2017 Barry Harris had a fall in Italy so he sent me in to sub on a concert at William Paterson U. with Larry, Ray Drummond and Leroy Williams. It was a gas.

Lou & Lou.

Hello friends. HOMAGE releases this Friday, November 3 – download and physical CD. https://michaelweiss.bandcamp.com/album/homage Info: Michael Weiss has always had the ear of some of the most imposing soloists in jazz. The seasoned pianist has been a top-call sideman to a starry constellation of bandleaders during his career, from a 15-year tenure with tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin to extensive tours, club dates, or recordings with George Coleman, Charles McPherson, Lou Donaldson, Benny Golson, Art Farmer, Lou Donaldson and many others. Among the many qualities that these jazz legends have responded to in Weiss’ conception is its aesthetic breadth and depth. His improvising and writing is rooted in bebop fundamentals but also expansive, reflecting contemporary approaches to melodic development, rhythmic and textural variety, and formal ingenuity. Above all, Weiss is a musician who communicates his own personal view of the world. His music pulsates with a strong emotional commitment and hard-won individuality. George Coleman, well-known as a saxophonist unwilling to suffer any musician who doesn’t meet the highest artistic standards, put it this way in 2022: “Michael is very inventive and creative, and he has been for a very long time. He’s harmonically adept and has a fantastic right hand. He’s gifted. He deserves more attention.” With Weiss’ sideman credentials well established, he has recently concentrated on honing his distinctive language with his own trio. In addition to club and festival work and touring, he has produced a growing series of recordings that document his sophisticated original compositions and inventive arrangements of off-the-beaten track repertoire and standards. Homage, which features Paul Sikivie on bass and Pete Van Nostrand on drums, finds the trusted piano veteran in exceptional form on his second outing for Cellar Live, following 2022’s well-received quartet album Persistence. Reviewing the latter in Jazz Times, Martin Johnson wrote that Weiss “is neither a revivalist nor a classicist, but a virtuoso who dives into harmonic textures and melodic structures in search of beauty and surprise.” Meanwhile, Ted Panken wrote in Downbeat, “Weiss merges old-school idiomatic particulars with progressive aesthetics.” On Homage, the program combines six Weiss originals, including the sparkling leadoff track “Un Petit Quelque Chose” (“a little something”), with eloquent, insightful, deeply swinging readings of “Lullaby of the Leaves,” “I’ll Remember April” and “Skylark.” Then there’s the uncommon and beguiling Clare Fischer composition “Suddenly,” not to mention an exuberant take of Charlie Parker’s lesser-known “An Oscar for Treadwell” included here “as a dedication to the great pianist and educator Barry Harris,” Weiss writes in his liner notes. “Barry left us not long ago after a fruitful and full life bringing the art of melody to listeners and students around the world. He was a close comrade for over 40 years and left an indelible mark on my musical personality.” There are other dedicatees as well, some quite specific, others less direct. “The Griffin” honors the late Chicago tenor great, Weiss’s stateside employer for 15 years, “short in stature but a giant ball of fire on the saxophone.” “We Love Horace,” for the dearly missed hardbop pioneer, is “one of those tunes that just flowed out in one pass,” Weiss says. “Upon reflection, the melody and detailing appear to have that Silverian flavor.” The quote of Silver’s “Doodlin’” that ends the piano solo is the chef’s kiss. Selections for Homage came about through what Weiss describes as “a leisurely process of tweaking and editing on the bandstand, the best laboratory for developing and refining ideas in organic fashion.” “I’ll Remember April,” for instance, cooled way down from its typical uptempo treatment, is particularly adventurous in its orchestration and harmonic reworking. As a result, improvising on the form becomes a new prospect, putting the trio’s subtle chemistry under a microscope. “A World Away,” though not intended as a tribute, reveals what is perhaps the unconscious influence of Bobby Hutcherson in its modern 6/8 groove, thorny chromaticism and majestic melody. “It’s a melancholy theme with two sections that eventually concludes on a bright note,” writes the pianist, who keeps the take concise and makes it count. “Hale-Bopp,” named for the comet discovered in 1995, is a kind of tribute to jazz itself, “a piece spun out of the bebop vernacular, but with a few harmonic twists,” says Weiss. The trio’s rhythmic precision is key on this intricate head, setting up a bright walking swing feel and a piano solo packed with edge-of-seat invention. “Pete continues the conversation with a perfect chorus,” Weiss writes, “demonstrating why he is one of the most in-demand drummers in New York today.” Weiss also singles out Sikivie’s leadoff bass solo on “Lullaby of the Leaves” for its “melodic ingenuity and solid beat.” “Homage,” with an elegant and darkly hued lyricism, “was originally composed as the second movement of a suite,” Weiss explains. “After trying a variety of rhythms, the bolero seemed to fit best. Except for one short solo section, it is entirely composed. While it’s not dedicated to anyone in particular, it feels like an homage nonetheless.” The same can be said for the album Homage as a whole, affording us one of the most intimate and sustained views of Michael Weiss’s artistry to date. What the Critics Say: “I love listening to pianist Michael Weiss. He has a jazz sound all his own.... It’s a feel and seasoning that comes from playing with hard bop masters. The playing is spectacular and supersized, with zero fat.” — Marc Myers, JAZZWAX Michael Weiss is a conscientious pianist with a firm foothold on modern jazz traditions.” — Nate Chinen, The New York Times “Through the years [Weiss has] matured into his own man within this rich genre, both as pianist and composer.” — Ira Gitler, Jazz Inside “Mr. Weiss has the charging, heavily rhythmic side of bebop playing under his fingers, and he can focus the intensity in a tune as well as any pianist in mainstream jazz.” — Ben Ratliff, The New York Times “Weiss is a nimble and inventive keyboard artist who couldn’t play an inelegant note if he wanted to.” — Howard Reich, The Chicago Tribune “One of the most fluent and flexible pianists of his generation.” — Mark Stryker, BMI Music World “Combines the wonder of spontaneity with a workmanlike acknowledgment of his materials: art and craft in delightful balance.” — Neil Tesser, The Chicago Reader