Jazz / Post-Bop
Airto Moreira Percussion
Alan Rubin Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Arnaldo DeSouteiro Digital Remastering, Reissue Producer
Azzedin Weston Percussion
Bill Wood Bass
Billy Cobham Drums
Bob Ciano Design
Brooks Tillotson French Horn
Creed Taylor Producer
David Horowitz Moog Synthesizer
Don Sebesky Arranger
Freddie Hubbard Trumpet
Garnett Brown Trombone
George Marge Flute (Alto), Horn (English), Flute, Flute (Bass)
Grover Washington, Jr. Sax (Tenor)
Hubert Laws Flute (Alto), Piccolo, Flute, Flute (Bass)
James Buffington French Horn
John Frosk Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Marvin Stamm Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Paul Faulise Trombone
Pete Turner Cover Photo, Photography
Phil Kraus Percussion
Randy Weston Adaptation, Piano, Liner Notes, Piano (Electric)
Romeo Penque Clarinet, Horn (English), Piccolo, Flute (Bass), Oboe
Ron Carter Bass
Rudy Van Gelder Engineer
Warren Covington Trombone
Wayne Andre Horn (Baritone), Trombone
Randy Weston's most popular record, this Lp (which he had mixed feelings about) features Weston not only on piano but electric keyboards. Backed by Don Sebesky arrangements and assisted by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and tenor-saxophonist Grover Washington Jr., Weston plays quite well on four of his compositions; best-known are "Ganawa (Blue Moses)" and "Marrakesh Blues." The music retains the African feel of most of Weston's latter-day playing but also has some commercial touches that do not hurt the performances. This rewarding date has not yet been reissued on CD. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Randy Weston
Active Decades: '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Apr 06, 1926 in Brooklyn, NY
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Modern Creative, World Fusion, Highlife, Post-Bop, Hard Bop, Mainstream Jazz, Progressive Jazz, African Jazz, African Traditions, Jazz Instrument, Piano Jazz
Placing Randy Weston into narrow bop-derived categories only tells part of the story of this restless musician. Starting with the gospel of bop according to Thelonious Monk, Weston has gradually absorbed the letter and spirit of African and Caribbean rhythms and tunes, welding everything together into a searching, energizing, often celebratory blend. His piano work ranges across a profusion of styles from boogie-woogie through bop into dissonance, marking by a stabbing quality reminiscent of, but not totally indebted to, Monk.
Growing up in Brooklyn, Weston was surrounded by a rich musical community: he knew Max Roach, Cecil Payne, and Duke Jordan; Eddie Heywood lived across the street; Wynton Kelly was a cousin. Most influential of all was Monk, who tutored Weston upon visits to his apartment. Weston began working professionally in R&B bands in the late '40s before playing in the bebop outfits of Payne and Kenny Dorham. After signing with Riverside in 1954, Weston led his own trios and quartets and attained a prominent reputation as a composer, contributing jazz standards like "Hi-Fly" and "Little Niles" to the repertoire. He also met arranger Melba Liston, who has collaborated with Weston off and on into the '90s. Weston's interest in his roots was stimulated by extended stays in Africa; he visited Nigeria in 1961 and 1963, lived in Morocco from 1968 to 1973 following a tour, and has remained fascinated with the music and spiritual values of the continent ever since. In the '70s, Weston made recordings for Arista-Freedom, Polydor, and CTI while maintaining a peripatetic touring existence -- mostly in Europe -- returning to Morocco in the mid-'80s.
However, starting in the late '80s, after a long recording drought, Weston's visibility in the U.S. skyrocketed with an extraordinarily productive period in the studios for Antilles and Verve. Among his highly eclectic recording projects were a trilogy of "Portrait" albums depicting Ellington, Monk, and himself, an ambitious two-CD work rooted in African music called The Spirits of Our Ancestors, a blues album, and a collaboration with the Master Gnawa Musicians of Morocco. Though he does tend now and then to recycle material written up to nearly half-a-century before, well in to his seventies, Weston remains an unpredictable, unusually enterprising musician, issuing Khepara in 1998.
---Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide |
