Randy Weston is a true giant—he stands six feet, eight inches—as well as a legendary pianist and restless world traveler who has studied various cultures and sounds and incorporated them into his bebop blues and wide-screen compositions. Weston was also one of the first jazz musicians to reconnect the music to its African roots, and one of the most adventurous in opening up jazz to influences from around the world.
Born in 1926 to West Indian parents, Weston grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He started playing professionally in the late 1940s and made his first recording as a leader in 1954, Plays Cole Porter in a Modern Mood, for the Riverside label.
Weston made his first performing trip to Africa in 1961, when he played Lagos, Nigeria, returning there in 1963. After a State Department tour of West Africa in 1967, Weston moved to Rabat, Morocco. He later moved to Tangier, opening the African Rhythms Club in 1969. Weston moved back to the U.S. in 1972, but he was a road warrior who toured Europe and returned to Africa frequently.
His great jazz influences include Art Tatum, Duke Ellington and, especially, Thelonious Monk. Weston's the composer of jazz standards like "Hi-Fly," "African Cookbook" and "Little Niles," and he's recorded numerous great solo albums and trio dates as well as several big-band LPs, often in association with arranger Melba Liston. Some of his most popular recordings that mixed jazz and African music include Uhuru Afrika (1960), The Splendid Master Gnawa Musicians of Morocco (1992), Khepera (Verve, 1998), Spirit! The Power of Music (2003). – Christopher Porter
