Brooklyn Arts Council

After contributing six decades of musical direction and genius, Brooklyn-born Randy Weston remains one of the world's foremost pianists and composers today, a true innovator and visionary. Encompassing the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa, his global creations musically continue to inform and inspire. "Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk, as well as the richest most inventive beat," states jazz critic Stanley Crouch, "but his art is more than projection and time; it's the result of a studious and inspired intelligence ... an intelligence that is creating a fresh synthesis of African elements with jazz technique.�

Weston�s first recording as a leader came in 1954 on Riverside Records� Cole Porter in a Modern Mood. He played around New York with Cecil Payne and Kenny Dorham throughout the 1950�s, and it was during this period that he wrote many of his best loved tunes: "Saucer Eyes," "Pam's Waltz," "Little Niles," and "Hi-Fly."

Weston�s music in the 60�s drew in prominent African elements, showcased in albums such as Uhuru Africa and Highlife: Music From the New African Nations. In the late 60's, he left the country. Instead of moving to Europe like so many of his contemporaries, Weston went to Africa. Though he settled in Morocco, he traveled throughout the continent tasting the musical fruits of other nations. One of his most memorable experiences was at the 1977 Nigerian festival, which drew artists from 60 cultures. "At the end," Weston says, "we all realized that our music was different but the same, because if you take out the African elements of bossa nova, samba, jazz, blues, you have nothing � To me, it's Mother Africa's way of surviving in the new world."

The 1990's witnessed a string of recordings on Verve Records that exhibited Weston�s pioneering musical aspirations. In 1991, he told the story of the roots of the blues on Spirits of our Ancestors. The Splendid Master Gnawa Musicians of Morocco was recorded in 1992, followed by Volcano Blues in 1993, Saga in 1996, Earth Birth in 1997, and Khepera in 1998, which drew connections between African and Chinese music.

Weston has garnered numerous awards, including an honorary Doctor of Music from Brooklyn College, tributes and residencies at New York University and Harvard, a Jazz Masters Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arts Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana�s Black Music Star Award, The French Order Of Arts And Letters, and a five-night tribute at the Montreal Jazz Festival. He was named Composer of the Year three times by Down Beat Magazine, and in 2009, Weston was added to the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame.