Mort Weiss

Mort Weiss
Genres	Jazz Bebop
Instruments	Clarinet
Associated acts	Joey DeFrancesco

Mort Weiss is a bebop oriented clarinet player with five albums as leader to date. On his first album as leader he performed with Joey DeFrancesco on the Hammond B3 organ, featured also on his second album B3 and Me (recorded in 2003 but not released until 2006).^[1] According to Scott Yanow, "Clarinet-organ groups are far from common. In fact, prior to Mort Weiss' debut CD with organist Joey DeFrancesco, it is possible that combination had never been utilized before."^[2]

Contents 1 Discography 1.1 As leader 1.2 As contributor 2 References

Discography

As leader

• Mort Weiss Quartet (2003). Mort Weiss Quartet. SMS Jazz. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r663164. 
• Mort Weiss Trio (2004). The Three of Us. SMS Jazz. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r708114. 
• Mort Weiss Quartet (2005). The Four of Us: Live at Steamers. SMS Jazz. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r780642. 
• Mort Weiss (2006). B3 and Me. SMS Jazz. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r859073. 
• Mort Weiss; Sam Most (2006). Mort Weiss Meets Sam Most. SMS Jazz. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r853790. 

As contributor

• Eschete, Ron (2002). No Place to Hide. SMS Jazz. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r663309. 

References

Jazz Topics "Jazz" Jazz Age Jazz band Jazz poetry Jazz royalty Jazz standard Big band Improvisation Jam session Scat singing Stride Swing performance Instruments Jazz bass Jazz drumming Jazz guitar Jazz piano Jazz violin Vocal jazz Genres Acid jazz Asian American jazz Avant-garde jazz Bebop Bossa nova Cape jazz Chamber jazz Cool jazz Crossover jazz Dixieland Free jazz Gypsy jazz Hard bop Jazz blues Jazz-funk Jazz fusion Jazz rap Jazzstep Latin jazz M-Base Mainstream jazz Modal jazz Neo-bop jazz Nu jazz Orchestral jazz Post-bop Punk jazz Ska jazz Smooth jazz Soul jazz Swing Trad jazz West Coast jazz Lists Musicians by instrument Bassists Clarinetists Drummers Guitarists Organists Pianists Saxophonists Trombonists Trumpeters Violinists Vocalists Percussionists by genre Bebop Chamber jazz Cool jazz & West Coast jazz Hard bop Jazz blues Jazz fusion Scat Smooth jazz Soul jazz Swing Standards Pre-1920 1920s 1930s 1940s post-1950 Albums Clubs Contrafacts Festivals Genres Institutions & Organizations Years in jazz Pre-1920: 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920s: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930s: 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940s: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950s: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960s: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970s: 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980s: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990s: 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000s Discographies Blue Note BYG Actuel Cobblestone CTI ECM ESP-Disk Flying Dutchman Freedom Groove Merchant Impulse! India Navigation Landmark Mainstream Milestone MPS Muse Prestige Riverside Strata-East

Persondata
Name	Weiss, Mort
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death

By Dr. Samuel Chell

This review is from: Mort Weiss Meets Bill Cunliffe Anyone familiar with the Mort Weiss story is likely to catch the irony of the title. Like so many musicians whose star shone briefly during the putative heyday of the 1950s West Coast "Cool Jazz" scene, Weiss encountered his share of dangerous diversions if not insurmountable obstacles. But unlike his contemporaries, many of whom were totally unprepared for the winds of change that would extinguish their flames by the end of the decade, Weiss was fortunate to put his horn and his chops on the shelf from the early 1960s to the present millennium. What for others became the occasion for a Requiem was for Mort Weiss a wake-up call. He walked away from the waning and unrewarding club scene, and assembled a life. Then some 40 years later he did the unthinkable, dusting off his ax (a clarinet rather than the more embrochure-friendly tenor sax), got his chops together (much as he had his life), and for the first decade of the present millennium has been releasing cutting-edge CDs on a yearly basis, each project more adventurous and challenging if not more impressive, instrumentally and artistically, than the preceding one.

The counsel from Shakespeare's Hamlet--"Be Ready!"--has always served the redoubtable Weiss well. It's his obsessive-compulsive woodshedding that enables him to walk into an unfamiliar situation and simply go with the flow (including the occasional typhoon or tide pool), whether that means a session with the King of the Hammond B3, Joey D. Francesco, or a recording with solo clarinet unaccompanied by any other instrument. Whatever the occasion, it's likely to be unprecedented, another first, which is becoming practically routine with the forever restless Mort Weiss. The man is made of flinty stuff, with no more plans of calling it a wrap than Tennyson's unique take on Homer's prototypal quester, "Ulysses" : "tho we are not now that strength which in old days / Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,-- strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

With this background, Weiss has elected to start the second decade of the present millennium as only he could: with a session full of surprises, outstanding solos, and esprit de corps aplenty (the leader's occasional verbal outbursts of sheer delight serving to italicize any inspired, serendipitous moment that otherwise might get past the listener unnoticed). Since the '50s the West Coast has attracted an impressive number of all-star pianists--e.g. Previn, Levy, Jolly, Hawes, Freeman, Williamson, Carl Perkins. Bill Cunliffe, with whom Weiss shares top billing, has assimilated practically all of their styles (while producing on his own a worthy sequel to Oliver Nelson's classic "Blues and the Abstract Truth"). From the very first track, he demonstrates why he has become one of the most sought-after pianists on the national scene, improvising over a dazzling sequence of altered "I Got Rhythm" chord changes that are likely to send pianists at home heading for their keyboards (ideally with a laptop plus software program to slow down the tempo). It occurs the 2nd time around on the main chorus (should the listener, heaven forbid, miss it, Weiss' audible acknowledgement of the feat calls attention to it). Elsewhere Cunliffe takes chances, invariably making everything work (as during the building climax of his solo on "Who Can I Turn To?"). "If I Should Lose You," settling into a safe and sane groove, yields something more accessible, with a piano solo that's reminiscent of a Red Garland or Wynton Kelly and more likely to assure lesser piano players with slower fingers that swing alone can get the job done. "What Is This Thing Called Love," on the other hand, is an inspired tour de force by just the featured pair, no assistance from the rhythm section. In his dual role as soloist and accompanist, Cunliffe evokes practically a history of left-hand styles, ranging from stride piano to walking 4/4.

But the latter duet is only one of 13 tracks, each distinguished from all the others in terms of tempo, mood, and instrumentation. For his power plant, Weiss has called on arguably as good a rhythm section as you're likely to find on the Coastal scene: the redoubtable Roy McCurdy (Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderley) on drums, who trades 8's on Charlie Parker's "Dewey Square" as if he were putting on a clinic; the rock solid Chris Connor on bass (hand-picked by McCurdy, and definitely a rising talent to keep an eye on). For good measure, Weiss has turned the session into a party (a veritable Norman Granz JATP-in-miniature) by inviting, to quote the album cover, "the Undisputed Father of Jazz Flute," Sam Most, to join him on the front-line. Readers of jazz criticism are in for yet another surprise as Scott Yanow, the prolific and ubiquitous writer of numerous books on music and a familiar contributor to comprehensive jazz sites, joins Weiss for some memorable solo clarinet time on "The Sheik of Araby." What's lacking in facility is readily compensated for by fresh ideas and expressive soul. Finally, the aforementioned quote from Tennyson may be taken as a harbinger of more of the unexpected during this multifarious musical odyssey (remember when jazz and poetry were almost synonymous with 1950s West Coast jazz?). "Readings from Kerouac" will score heavily not only with Kerouac fans but with anyone who remembers the poet laureate of the Beats, Allen Ginsberg, as well as the 1950s' jazz piano philosopher, Slim Gaillard ("Flat Foot Floogie with a Floy Floy").

As should be evident from the foregoing description, "Mort Weiss Meets Bill Cunliffe" is a spirited, swinging session and much more: Weiss has recreated the ethos of, and recorded a tribute to, an entire era of the music, while exposing the limitations of slogans and glib epithets like "Cool Jazz." The music on this session is anything but. Still, any review of the album would be remiss without calling attention to Weiss' own development as a player. He certainly has nothing left to prove as a pyrotechnician, or as a master of the language of bebop, or as a musician who has earned the respect of his peers, or as a musical phenomenon who deserves to be listed in Ripley's (who else has deserted this most demanding and challenging music for over 40 years, only to claw their way back to the top, not only regaining but surpassing their previous form?). Anyone who has followed Weiss' extraordinary musical career will hear a musician who, having nothing left to prove, can now afford to make what he DOES play more real, more direct, more authentic, more genuine. Although not the most well-known standard in the Great American Songbook, the ballad "For Heaven's Sake" has caught the ears of some of the music's most storied interpreters. Until now, perhaps the most memorable, highly regarded reading of this hymn to the sublime was that of Billie Holiday ("Lady in Satin"). At the very least, Lady Day's version must now be placed alongside the moving, poignant, haunting version by Mort Weiss. And it won't work to categorize the one version as a vocal triumph, the other as its instrumental counterpart. This time out, the clarinetist erases such a distinction, making his horn sing as never before.

Dr. Samuel Chell, Professor Emeritus Carthage College, continues his activities as a PBS Announcer, Lecturer, Writer and Musician. He is the Host of an NPR (WGTD) weekly 2 hour Jazz Show and former Senior Editor of “All About Jazz”. His education includes: Augustana College, University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, Stevens Point University, University of Chicago, Berklee School of Music and New York University.