Randy Weston is a Brooklyn born pianist, with
Caribbean and African influences, as suits this scholar
with earthy roots. His earliest recordings on Riverside
date from the mid-'50s, and his fingers have since
taken him around the world. He's appeared on as
many labels as one can label the man himself, yet there
is a constant: a continual searching for depth.
Although Weston has used every grouping from trio
to jazz orchestra (arranged by the late Melba Liston) to
traditional musicians from Marrakech, it is in solo
piano where he is most himself. Luckily, he has been
documented in solo form throughout his career, a
recent (1989) peak being a trio of discs recorded in
three days called Portraits (Duke, Monk and Self).
Blue was originally released in 1984 and here is
resurrected with a disc of new recordings, Ancient
Future. It shows its influences on its sleeves, actually
a double digipak: a hauntingly beautiful ankh on the
new disc and the ink portrait of Weston on the former,
with a map of Africa extending from his right hand,
and South America as his piano lid. These are
indicative, but do not give the sense of piano as damp,
fertile earth these compositions give you. From the
opening "Penny Packer Blues" through "Lagos" and
the closing "Ellington Tusk", there is an amalgam of
dark blues, rapid stride, pedalled impressionism, and
timeless ornamentation both delicate and fierce in
Blue. There is no overt Africanism in "Blue In Tunisia"
or "Lagos" — Weston is too worldly for that, but one
feels the feeling.
Mutable Music, run by 1750 Arch owner Thomas
Buckner, has been quietly resurrecting their treasures
(Big Black and Roscoe Mitchell available now; ROVA
and Galas among the sorely missed) on the new label.
Rather than a straight reissue, here we have the
luxury of an update of where Weston is now, via
Ancient Future. His roots are still here, of course, but
filtered through twenty more years of experience and
intellect. The playing is slightly more abstract and
internal, but not less communicative: the veins run
deeper. Anyone familiar with Weston's playing
would be hard put to fail a blindfold test.
"Portrait of Oum Kalthoum", the great Egyptian
singer, is a beautiful meditation on her work; there are
no musical allusions to her style. "PCN", for Panama,
Cuba, Nigeria is perhaps the richest piece: lots of dark
notes, many but subtle rhythms. Before you realize it,
a wickedly playful "It Don't Mean A Thing" strides
over you as it in turn segues to "Body and Soul",
taken — nothing is static here for long — in and out of
3/4 time. Much of the hour-long disc is presented as a
suite, each piece commenting musically and
historically on the rest.
Ancient Future/Blue is dark chocolate for the soul.
[Note to the designers: don't glue a booklet to the left-hand
side of a double digipak; it hurts the spine when
you read it.]
This review first appeared in the September 2002 issue of All About Jazz: New York .
Randy Weston at All About Jazz.
Visit Randy Weston on the web.
Personnel: Randy Weston - piano
Style: Modern Jazz
Published: September 10, 2002
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