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JAZZHAUS presents JAMES WEIDMAN & HARVIE S

A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Weidman spent his formative years playing organ both in church and in his father's band. "My first paying gig was in a church. In an African-American community especially you'd end up doing a church gig, especially if you could play the sacred music." Through his adolescence he played B3, learning to improvise and accompany, and digging through his dad's record collection, heavy on bebop and post-bop sides from the 1940s through the 1960s. "I became engrossed in learning about all the great pianists and horn men even though I was playing organ. Bud Powell, Bird, and Miles were greater than Spider-Man & Fantastic Four to me." He credits mentors such as James Williams, who preceded Weidman at William Patterson University, and Bob Neloms (the pianist in Charles Mingus' final band), with providing guidance towards a career in jazz.

Truth & Actuality is Weidman's second release on Inner Circle Music, the label run by saxophonist Greg Osby. Weidman and Osby connected through the M-Base collective, and bonded over their shared concerns regarding ownership of one's music. "In M-Base we were very proactive in terms of putting our music out there. A lot of times I went in and recorded without waiting for anybody. I was self-producing years ago," notes Weidman. This independent spirit and prolific creativity has led to Weidman launching a solo piano album, recorded on a Fazioli piano, that will be available on the same day as the release of Truth & Actuality. With his recent acquisition of a Steinway L piano, on the cusp of his 60th birthday, Weidman says he has "an instrument that inspires him" for the first time since his college days, a new inspiration easily heard on his two new albums.

HARVIE S
S learned piano as a child and did not begin playing bass until 1967, when he was nineteen years old.[1] He attended Berklee College of Music and played in and around Boston with Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Mose Allison, and Chris Connor. He moved to New York City in 1972, where he worked with Jackie Paris, Thad Jones, Gil Evans, Lee Konitz, Barry Miles (197476), David Friedman, Double Image, David Matthews, Steve Kuhn (19771981) and Paul Motian. He has recorded extensively as a duet with Sheila Jordan, and has released numerous albums as the leader of his own ensembles, including Urban Earth and the Harvie S Band. Harvie S has recorded, performed and produced music exclusively as Harvie S since 2001. In 2008 Harvie S with Kenny Barron Due CD, Now Was the Time, was released on HighNote/Savant records.