Michael Weiss

The Jazztet reunited in 1995 for a European summer concert tour. Art, Benny, Curtis, Buster Williams, Carl Allen and myself.

Joe, I don't know if what I practice adds anything substantial to this discussion, but since you asked: My own time at home on the piano is spent playing classical music - *Szymanowski's Mazurkas, Four Polish Dances and Valse Romantique, Scriabin sonatas and etudes - or working on my own compositions. Every now and then I might take a little something through the keys, or blow on a tune for a while. Just playing the instrument for a couple of hours is all I need before a performance. There are several exercises I recommend to my students which deal with scales, fingerings, technique, keys, transposition, problem solving, etc. *These are some of the hippest pieces I've come across in the classical repertoire. I strongly recommend any serious pianists out there to check this stuff out. Marc-Andre Hamelin CD on Hyperion.

Johnny Griffin reunites his quartet with Michael Weiss, John Webber, Kenny Washington for an upcoming two day stint at the Blue Note, NYC, March 15 and 16.

Thanks. Glad you like them. Michael

I drop in a post now and then. I'm not interested in creating a commotion, but if I can add some useful information I will. However, I'm always willing to answer any questions posed to me. Thanks for the invite, Chuck.

To Johnny Griffin fans: Griff is returning to the US for a brief trip next month: We'll be at the Blue Note, NYC on March 15-16. The regular quartet with John Webber and Kenny Washington. Griff then plays a concert in Chicago on March 19 with the Chicago Jazz Ensemble. He hasn't played stateside in almost three years.

This is a rare opportunity to hear Joe Wilder blow in a relaxed quartet setting in one of NYC's most comfortable venues. Friday, February 11 Kitano Hotel Park Avenue @38th Street 9:00pm - 12:00am

Some of Bill's best playing on record is on Lou Donaldson's Fried Buzzard.

Bill was around 5'5". The Savoy date is very good - worth having. He played me a cassette of a gig with Bu that included Billy Harper, Slide Hampton and McCoy Tyner. They played Passion Dance! Could have been from Slugs. I played a gig with Junior and Bill at the Village Gate around 1987. Might have been a benefit for Barry Harris' Jazz Cultural Theater. Dig the band that played after us: Tommy Turrentine, Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton, Tommy Flanagan, Art Taylor. Forgot who was playing bass. Can you imagine that? This is a photo from a gig we played in Ancona in 1986.

My collection, all LPs: ORIGINAL SATURNS Invisible Shield Continuation Other Planes of There Cosmic tones for Mental Therapy Secrets of the Sun Interstellar Low Ways Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow featuring Black Harold and Pharoah Sanders We Travel the Spaceways Space Probe Visits Planet Earth at Montreux Vol. 1/2 ORIGINAL SAVOY The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra ORIGINAL ESPs Nothing Is Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 1 Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 2 ORIGINAL ACTUEL Solar-myth Approach Vol. 2 ORIGINAL SHANDAR Nuits de la Fondation Maeght Vol. 2 IMPULSE REISSUES Fate in a Pleasant Mood Magic City The Nubians of Plutonia Super-sonic Sounds Jazz in Silhouette Pathways to Unknown Worlds Angels and Demons at Play Astro Black OTHERS It's After the End of the World (MPS) Solar-myth Approach Vol. 1 (Affinity) Pictures of Infinity (Black Lion) Sun Song (Delmark) Sound of Joy (Delmark) Didn't see anyone mention Pathways to Unknown Worlds, one of my favorites. Also the Saturn with Pharoah as well as Continuation, Invisible Shield, Space Probe - all interesting stuff.

Hi Brad, The Bud Powell project with Barry was very enjoyable. We spent two afternoons up at WKCR with the liner notes editor, Peter Pullman (great name!). We listened to every track (all takes) and the tape recorder recorded our conversations and observations. The funny part about it is that when I saw the transcript, there was no reference to when we said what, so by itself the commentary made no sense: MW:"Wow, did you hear that...." BH: "Oh shit...." BH: "They shouldn't have released that...." MW: "Oh man, there's that b9 on the major 7th chord...." I went back and put time-references to the comments so people would at least have some idea of what we were talking about. Barry and I often have musical dialogues over the phone while at our pianos in Weehawken and Brooklyn respectively. Over the years, it's become a very important musical relationship for me. Not many people have the kind of appreciation for the beauty of melody and voice leading as Barry has. As far as Barry participating in a web forum, I think that's a long shot. Hi David (WFIU guy), You guys have my last CD, Soul Journey. Do you have a tape from the Roland Kirk concert? You may have answered Bright Moment's prayers. In the late seventies, there was a small committee of a few musicians, including myself, Dave Miller, Cliff Tinder, who were lobbying the I.U. Auditorium people to bring jazz musicians other than Dave Brubeck, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Al Hirt to Bloomington (you get the picture?). We brought Dexter and then Roland Kirk. The same stuffy bureaucrat that we had to fight with to bring Rahsaan to IU was the one driving him to the airport the morning after the concert when he died in the car! Give Joe Bourne my regards. Come over and visit my page at that other webforum, AAJ.

A bootleg of what?

Gee, my very own thread. Thanks guyz (two Hankensteins!), I'm flattered. Duh... Glad you liked the Griff dates. Are they still in print?? Too bad we never made a live date. The recordings don't even come close! Going in the studio with Frank Wess next week. Bright Moments - was at Rahsaan's last gig in Bloomington, IN. Happy to post more often. Michael

Thanks Matt.

I played two concerts with Idrees Sulieman in June of 1990 - Mannes College and Temple University - in a group with Ralph Moore, Peter and Kenny Washington, playing Idrees' tunes. He was a very nice, soft spoken guy and played with a big fat sound. One of the ORIGINAL bebop trumpet players, he had his own thing alongside Dizzy and Fat Girl. Probably one of the most lyrical trumpet players of all time. I met him for the first time at Sadik Hakim's apartment around 1980. He had a tape of Oscar Dennard playing solo piano at a house party: Boplicity and Round Midnight. Unbelievable. Beautiful smooth block chords. I regret not getting a copy of that. I think Jamil Nasser has it. I don't think there are any commercial recordings that really show what Oscar Dennard could do. I'm glad to see Idrees' name mentioned here.