Randy Weston's African Rhythms Trio at Stanford Jazz Festival

“If you love music,” says pianist Randy Weston, “you have to know where it came from.” Conventional wisdom holds that jazz came from New Orleans, but Weston takes a longer view, tracing the roots of jazz back to Africa. An NEA Jazz Master and “a magnificent, inspired and powerful pianist” (San Francisco Examiner), Weston has devoted his life to the study of African music, including a six-year residence in Morocco, where he ran a nightclub and studied with master musicians. Weston says the word “jazz” fails to capture the history of his music, preferring to call it “African Rhythms.” According to the New York Times, “those who have experienced Mr. Weston and African Rhythms know he is right by how the music makes us feel.” Noted jazz critic Stanley Crouch states that “Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk…a fresh synthesis of African elements with jazz technique.”...

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“If you love music,” says pianist Randy Weston, “you have to know where it came from.” Conventional wisdom holds that jazz came from New Orleans, but Weston takes a longer view, tracing the roots of jazz back to Africa. An NEA Jazz Master and “a magnificent, inspired and powerful pianist” (San Francisco Examiner), Weston has devoted his life to the study of African music, including a six-year residence in Morocco, where he ran a nightclub and studied with master musicians. Weston says the word “jazz” fails to capture the history of his music, preferring to call it “African Rhythms.” According to the New York Times, “those who have experienced Mr. Weston and African Rhythms know he is right by how the music makes us feel.” Noted jazz critic Stanley Crouch states that “Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk…a fresh synthesis of African elements with jazz technique.”

For more information on this event or to purchase tickets please visit http://www.stanfordjazz.org/jazzfestival/06_26.html or call (650) 725-ARTS [2787]

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