Jazz Articles

Ezra Weiss: Persephone

by Robert R. Calder
December 19, 2005

These young men who understand the point of playing hard bop do so here in a strongly compositional, mini-orchestral context. After a piano intro to “Lord, Give me Wings," Kelly Roberge's tenor saxophone is first up, a soft-toned asset to deeply crafted ensembles, congenial too in solo. The trumpet crackles, with telling, not showy piano support. Starting slow and in stillness, Antonio Hart's deep-voiced alto soon kicks in, this spirited invocation of the muses stronger yet for Billy Hart's workout ...

Ezra Weiss: Persephone

by Celeste Sunderland
October 19, 2005

In Greek myth, when Hades abducted Demeter's daughter, the heartbroken harvest deity plunged the Earth into icy cold. But the gods were able to work out a deal. During part of the year, Persephone would reside with her husband in the underworld and winter would descend. When the beautiful being once again emerged to be with her mother, spring's ripe buds would penetrate the soil, engulfing the planet in summer blooms. Named for this ethereal figure, Ezra Weiss' second studio ...

Ezra Weiss: Persephone

by Jerry D'Souza
October 1, 2005

Ezra Weiss says that he wrote the music for Persephone during a “depressed, cynical point in his life, but the end result came out “more uplifting than he had expected. The parallel muses of sorrow and joy played their roles well. The album has a fine balance, the brighter tunes bringing in a surge of joy, the darker ones not clouding the horizon but revealing some fine material that draws the listener into its pith. The latter trait is strongly ...

Ezra Weiss: The Five A.M. Strut

by C. Michael Bailey
January 16, 2004

The Five A.M. Strut starts off with an unruly bang with “Symmetric," ironically named because the music is anything but. Oregon native Ezra Weiss begins his recital of all original tunes with an explosion of sound. Taking full advantage of the tethered freedom offered jazz by the second great Miles Davis Quintet, Mr. Weiss aggressively addresses the hard bop/post bop paradox with confidence and finesse.

This is the assertive spirit, characteristic of the youthful Weiss, which permeates this ...

Ezra Weiss: The Five A.M. Strut

by Dan McClenaghan
October 20, 2003

Newcomer Ezra Weiss, a pianist/composer, comes out of the gates blazing on this sextet recording. “Symmetrics," a swinging hard energy run, brings Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers to mind. Each member of the front line – alto and tenor sax and trumpet – gets a solo slot, keeping the heat high before they slip back into Weiss's engaging melody.The next piece, "A Time for Healing," proves the group knows its way around a ballad, with trumpeter Michael ...