On Saturday, March 19 at 9:00 p.m. in Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall presents Grammy Award-nominated pianist, composer, and NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston in a special one-night-only concert celebrating his 90th birthday and storied hallmark career. For this concert, Weston is joined by his African Rhythms band comprised of acclaimed musicians TK Blue (alto saxophone and flute), Cecil Bridgewater (trumpet), Alex Blake (bass), and Neil Clarke (African percussion).
After devoting seven decades to music, Weston remains one of the world's foremost pianists and composers today by combining the music of Africa with the African-American tradition of jazz. Esteemed jazz critic
Stanley Crouch has said, "Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk, as well as the richest most inventive beat, but his art is more than projection and time; it's the result of a studious and inspired intelligence...an intelligence that is creating a fresh synthesis of African elements with jazz technique."
For this concert-presented in partnership with Absolutely Live Entertainment LLC-Weston performs some of his most well-known compositions that define his musical career, including jazz standards "Hi Fly" and "African Sunshine," "Little Niles," "Blue Moses," and "Berkshire Blues," among others. Prior to this performance, beginning at 8:00 p.m., ticketholders are invited to enjoy Late Nights at Zankel Hall, a laid-back pre-concert experience. The first 200 ticketholders to arrive will receive a complimentary drink courtesy of
Carnegie Hall. For more information, please visit
carnegiehall.org/latenights.
NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston is an internationally renowned pianist, composer, bandleader, and cultural ambassador, whose compositions encompass the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa. Still a true innovator and visionary after seven decades of active work, Weston continues to inform and inspire.
Weston, born in Brooklyn, New York in 1926, did not have to travel far to hear the early jazz giants that were to influence him. Though Weston cites
Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, and of course,
Duke Ellington as his other piano heroes, it was Thelonious Monk who had the greatest impact. "He was the most original I had ever heard," Weston remembers, "He played like they must have played in Egypt 5,000 years ago."
Weston's lifelong connection with African music and culture is due in large part to his father, Frank
Edward Weston, who told his son that he was an "African born in America". "He told me that I had to learn about myself, about him, and about my grandparents," stated Weston, "and the only way to do it was to go back to the motherland one day."
On his 1960 album Uhuru Afrika arranged by Melba Liston (for which
Langston Hughes wrote the liner notes), Weston composed for large ensemble and employed traditional African percussion and rhythms. Weston's affinity for African music became the force behind dozens of albums released over the past five decades. In the years since, he has never failed to make the connection between African and American music.
In the late 60s, Weston left the United States, but instead of moving to Europe like so many of his contemporaries, Weston relocated to Africa. Although he settled in Morocco, he traveled throughout the continent, tasting the musical fruits of other nations. After seven decades devoted to music, Weston continues to record, teach, and perform throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Europe. In 2006, he performed at the Pan African Dance Festival as the Cultural Ambassador for the World Culture Open in Kigali, Rwanda. That same year he performed at the Panama Jazz Festival in Panama City and at Queen Elizabeth Hall with his Quartet in London. He had the honor of playing at the Kamigamo Shrine in Japan in 2008, 2010, and 2012.
Weston has been the recipient of many international awards. In 2001, he was honored with the Jazz Masters Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, one of the highest honors for a jazz artist. He has received honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Brooklyn College, Colby College, and New England Conservatory of Music and was inducted into the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame in 2009. On May 11, 2011, Weston received King Mohammed VI's honor for his lifelong commitment to bringing Morocco's Gnawa music tradition to the attention of the Western world.
