Jazz Articles about Randy Weston

Randy Weston & His African Rhythms Trio: Zep Tepi

by Bill Bennett
September 17, 2006

Randy Weston returns to the trio format for the first time in over thirty years with Zep Tepi. Poised to enter his eighth decade on the planet, Weston is an elder in every sense of the term. His distinctively percussive attack, yard-wide chords, criss-crossing rhythms and idiosyncratic melodies remain sui generis. Both literally (he's 6'9") and figuratively, Weston is a giant of the music.

He pays tribute to his friend and mentor Thelonious Monk on “Ballad for T," a reflective ...

Randy Weston's African Rhythms Trio: Zep Tepi

by Joel Roberts
August 20, 2006

There's no better argument for the notion that jazz keeps you young than Randy Weston. Appearing last month at the Blue Note in support of Zep Tepi, the Brooklyn-born Weston showed that at eighty he remains one of the most vital and creative forces in jazz, as well as one of its most charismatic figures. Zep Tepi is a trio effort that revisits some of Weston's most popular and enduring compositions. While the fare is well known--including ...

Randy Weston: Spirit! the Power Of Music

by Rex Butters
August 25, 2003

With Randy Weston’s longtime involvement with African music and culture, it seems odd he has recorded so little with traditional African ensembles. While percussion masters like Babatunde Olantunje have augmented his groups, his guest appearance on the Musicians of Morocco’s 1992 Seventh Splendid Master Gnawa marked one of the few times Weston worked with traditional African musicians in context.

The domestic release of Spirit! The Power of Music begins to correct that oversight. Recorded live in 1999 with longtime collaborators ...

Randy Weston: Spirit! The Power of Music

by AAJ Staff
August 25, 2003

One name is just not enough, and neither is one culture. The full performance credits for Spirit! reflect this record's international cast and bode well for its outcome. Jazz piano icon and longtime African music devotee Randy Weston may formally lead the date (recorded live in September 1999), but his African Rhythms Quartet plays more than a supporting role. Each of these artists takes the stage in a forward fashion in both duet and group settings.

Two separate trios of ...

Randy Weston: Mosaic Select 4

by AAJ Staff
July 25, 2003

Through all the changes that have characterized pianist Randy Weston's career, one common thread has tied everything together. In the context of large groups, vocalists, trios, solos, African percussion ensembles, and many other permutations, Weston has always emphasized the connections that relate his music to the jazz continuum (and, of course, emphasizing his own vision of such). His embrace of different modes of expression has paid off over the years with a number of great records that embody vastly different ...

Randy Weston African Rhythms Quintet: Spirit! The Power of Music

by Todd S. Jenkins
June 25, 2003

Ever since Ornette Coleman and journalist Robert Palmer ventured to Joujouka in the late 1970s, traditional Moroccan musicians have had sporadic, generally fruitful meetings with American jazzmen. Many of those projects -- Coleman’s Dancing In Your Head and Pharoah Sanders’ Trance of the Seven Colors come straight to mind -- have leaned heavily towards the traditional instruments, with the jazzmen rather floating above it all. Weston has crafted something closer to his usual brand of Africa-deep jazz and made room ...

A Fireside Chat with Randy Weston

by AAJ Staff
May 16, 2003

In my youth, a television news magazine aired a feature on how the map of the world we, as kids, were taught in school was in fact, biased. In reality, Europe and America are not nearly as vast as they seem in the Thomas Guide and Africa and Asia, not nearly as insignificant. South Africa, for instance, is nearly twice the size of Texas and has a stock exchange that is among the largest in the world. But South Africa, ...