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"80th Birthday Tribute"

Randy Weston's African Rhythms & The Gnawa Master Musicians of Morocco

Friday, April 28 • 8pm

“For more than 50 years, pianist Randy Weston has been one of the most revered pianists and composers in jazz.... An SFJAZZ Spring Season event virtually certain to be an experience of a lifetime."”—SFGate.com

“When a brilliant jazz artist explores the sounds of another culture, he can change the course of music history.”—Chicago Tribune

Celebrating a birthday milestone, piano giant and NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston revisits the Moroccan-inspired sounds of his discs Spirit! The Power of Music and The Splendid Master Gnawa Musicians of Morocco. “The recording barely hinted at the sonic power [of the] live performance,” the Chicago Tribune wrote of one concert. “[Weston] sounded consistently magisterial.”

Program Notes

In celebrating his 80th birthday, pianist Randy Weston continues to make the vital connection between African music and American jazz. Born in New York City, Weston lived for a time in Morocco (1968–73) where he steeped himself in its music, rich in Arabic song and African rhythms. Named an NEA Jazz Master in 2001, Weston recorded the 1999 album of Moroccan-inspired sounds, Spirit! The Power of Music, an innovative and visionary disc that featured the Gnawa Master Musicians of Morocco, who join him at this SFJAZZ concert. Of a date supporting the album, Weston said, “What was so wonderful was that we had three religions—Christianity, Islam and Yoruba—in the music, and the church was packed with people. It was so spiritual.”

A disciple of Thelonious Monk, Weston has a searching quality in his music, with an accent on celebration. He began recording with Riverside Records in the ‘50s, continued with CTI in the ‘70s, and after a hiatus from recording, resurfaced in the early ‘90s on Antilles and Verve with several excellent albums, including his 1991 masterpiece, The Spirits of Our Ancestors, a double album indebted to his fascination with the African-American confluence of music.

Critic Stanley Crouch aptly sums up Weston’s career thusly: “[He] 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 just projection and time. It’s the result of a studious and inspired intelligence…that is creating a fresh synthesis of African elements with jazz technique.”

— Dan Ouellette