ZUM TOD DES US-AMERIKANISCHEN JAZZPIANISTEN UND -KOMPONISTEN RANDY WESTON

02.09.2018 Der am 6. April 1926 in Brooklyn (New York City) geborene US-amerikanische Jazzpianist und –komponist Randy Weston (Bild) ist am 1. September 2018 ebendort gestorben. Er war einer der ersten afroamerikanischen Musiker, die nicht nur afrikanische Perkussion, sondern auch afrikanische (anti-kolonialistische) Rezitation in Swahili und auch afrikanische Popmusik in ihre Werke aufnahmen.

Foto: Bob Travis, 2007 - CC BY-SA 2.0 - Datei: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Randy_Weston.jpg?uselang=de

World-renowned Pianist and NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston Dies at 92

Randy Weston, NEA Jazz Master, Doris Duke Impact Award recipient, United States Artist Fellow and Guggenheim Foundation Fellow has died. The legendary pianist transitioned peacefully at his home today, announced his wife and business partner Fatoumata Weston. He was 92.

Weston has been laying down his distinctive rhythms since his first CD, Cole Porter in a Modern Mood, in 1954 right up to The African Nubian Suite, released in 2016. Throughout his prolific 65-year recording career, Weston drew connections between the jazz and blues that surrounded him while growing up in Brooklyn and the music of Africa, his ancestral homeland.

The pianist's long-time attorney Gail Boyd, said, "I spoke with Randy and Fatou just yesterday afternoon, and he seemed the picture of health as we discussed plans for travel and performances across the US, the Caribbean and Africa. His sudden death is another reminder that we all need to live life to the fullest, and Randy did just that, bringing love and joy to his family, friends and fans."

Randy Weston was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 6, 1926, to a Panamanian father and a mother originally from Virginia. Unlike many African Americans of his generation who acknowledged little connection between themselves and the mother continent, Weston proudly proclaimed himself an African from an early age, thanks largely to the influence of his father, Frank Edward Weston.

"I was always reading and imagining what it was like in Africa before it was invaded. You had African empires-Egypt, Nubia, Songhai empire of Mali, Ghana-and the magnificent architecture and the music. It's mind-blowing. You don't hear about it in school. You don't see it in the movies, but I've been blessed to live on the continent. I've been to 18 countries on the continent. I always look for the oldest people I can find. I want to hear the oldest music I can listen to. We did that growing up in Brooklyn. As kids, we always did that with the old people. They would tell us all these stories."

Weston took classical piano lessons as a child and enjoyed jazz keyboard greats Count Basie, Nat "King" Cole, Art Tatum, and especially Duke Ellington. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he returned home and went to work in his father's Caribbean-style restaurant, Trios, which became a frequent hangout for Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Igor Stravinsky, among others.

Coleman Hawkins was Weston's tenor saxophone hero. Hawkins later introduced Weston to then little-known pianist Thelonious Monk, who became Weston's friend, mentor, and major influence, just as Weston later became to many other musicians.

http://www.randyweston.info/Randy%20Weston%20April%206%201926-September%201%202018.pdf

Randy Weston, Pianist Who Traced Roots of Jazz to Africa, Dies at 92

Randy Weston, an esteemed pianist whose music and scholarship advanced the argument - now broadly accepted - that jazz is, at its core, an African music, died on Saturday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 92.

Giovanni Russonello

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/obituaries/randy-weston-dead.html

So much more than a "jazz pianist"

Well before World Music became a trend, and then a marketing term, Weston was creating a personal, deeply spiritual style of music that assimilated West African, Moroccan, and later Egyptian and East Asian elements. Although he was a Brooklyn boy through and through, he did live in Morocco for a few formative years and over the course of his career would frequently perform with that country's Gnawa musicians. (The Gnawa are the traditional music healers of Morocco, famous for playing trance-inducing rhythms that can run all night.)

http://jazzbluesnews.space/2018/09/02/randy-weston-pianist-who-traced-africa-in-jazz-and-blues-dies-at-92-photos-video/

Pianist Randy Weston, who recorded the iconic Blue Moses and African Cookbook among many others, reportedly died Saturday in Brooklyn.

Weston, a DownBeat Hall of Fame inductee and NEA Jazz Master, remained active in recent years performing live and issuing 2016's The African Nubian Suite, a live snapshot of a 2012 performance.

http://downbeat.com/news/detail/report-pianist-randy-weston-dies-at-92

Weston's piano style owes much to Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, whom he cited in a 2018 video as among pianists he counted as influences, as well as Count Basie, Nat King Cole and Earl Hines. Beginning in the 1950s, Weston worked often with trombonist and arranger Melba Liston.

Described as "America's African Musical Ambassador", he said: "What I do I do because it's about teaching and informing everyone about our most natural cultural phenomenon. It's really about Africa and her music."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Weston

Randy Weston, l'empreinte d'un géant du jazz

Porteur de l'héritage de la musique afro-américaine, le pianiste new-yorkais au style inimitable est mort samedi à Brooklyn, à l'âge de 92 ans.

Jacques Denis

http://next.liberation.fr/culture/2018/09/02/randy-weston-l-empreinte-d-un-geant-du-jazz_1676114

Ein Weltbürger aus Afro-Amerika - zum Tod von Randy Weston

Kaum ein anderer Jazzmusiker hat sich so sehr mit den rhythmischen Traditionen Afrikas auseinandergesetzt wie Randy Weston. Der Pianist und Bandleader, der jahrelang in Afrika lebte, ist am Samstag 92-jährig gestorben.

Ueli Bernays

https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/randy-weston-ein-weltbuerger-aus-afro-amerika-ld.1416632

Ein Musiker, der nicht zu überhören war

Der «Gentle Giant», wie er oft genannt wurde, war eine imposante Erscheinung von zwei Metern Grösse und einer Vorliebe für bunt bedruckte afrikanische Kleider. Randy Weston war nicht zu übersehen und schon gar nicht zu überhören.

Peter Bürli

https://www.srf.ch/kultur/musik/randy-weston-gestorben-ein-musiker-der-nicht-zu-ueberhoeren-war

Videos:

Randy Weston mit Gnawa Musikern

http://www.randyweston.info/randy-weston-photo-pages/randy-weston-gnawa-photo-pages/randy-weston-gnawa-flashpage.html

Randy Weston talks about his new solo double CD Sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLIqhO6cwVI&feature=youtu.be

Randy Weston interview 1 - "African Rhythms - Autobiography"

https://underyourskindvd.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/randy-weston-interview-1-african-rhythms-autobiography/

Jazz Legend Randy Weston on His Life and Celebration of "African Rhythms" (Democracy Now!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3L-lG_qmo8

Jazz: Rhythms Changing America Pt. 2 Randy Weston African Rhythms Trio and Candido