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| Alex Weitz - Luma - Downbeat & ASCAP Award Winner Luma may be Alex Weitz's second album as leader, but it's also a first for signaling new directions in the Miami-based saxophonist and composer's creative sound. From its predecessor, 2013's Chroma, which by its visceral explosion introduced the jazz world to a genuine talent, Luma recalibrates those youthful energies through an introspective grammar that belies his 25 years. Plying a distinctly original trade, Weitz proves himself to be a performer and composer of immense depth, maturity, and, above all, poise. Available March 3rd iTunes & Amazon Featuring: Alex Weitz: saxophone;Tal Cohen: piano; Ben Tiberio: bass; Michael Piolet: drums Release Performances: March 6th: Open Stage Club 8-11pm March 15th: Sunset Tavern 9pm-midnight March 16th: Ball and Chain 6-10pm March 17th: Le Chat Noir 10-1am March 18th: Lagniappe House 9-midnight March 22nd: Fish House 8-11pm Tenor saxist Alex Weitz drinks deep from the Sonny Rollins well, as his tone has the same deep growl. This guy's got some muscle! -George Harris, Jazzweekly.com Alex Weitz has solidified his reputation as a young musician with an accomplished knowledge of history and of where he not only fits in, but where he can ride with this knowledge. He is wise beyond his years as a musician and a tenor saxophonist. Mr. Weitz uses very little tremolo, his characteristic sound is clean and dry and when he gives us the histrionics of the tenor saxophone, they are elegant, forceful, seemingly weightless and always his own. -Raul da Gama, The Jazz Word The way this young sax man can bounce from mad to mellow, you can almost close your eyes, sit back, let your mind wander and think you're listening to Getz. A smoking second album that blows away any thoughts of sophomore jinx. Check it out. -Chris Spector, Midwest Record This is his game. Alex hits the number of notes extracted from his instrument per unit of time or sudden tempo differences with ease. He prefers a beautiful sound and gives the listener time to enjoy every moment of the game. However, his music is reminiscent of the spirit of full-blooded straight ahead jazz. -Leonid Auskern, Jazzquad Saxophonist and composer Alex Weitz began his career in Arizona as a member of the award-winning Tucson Jazz Institute Ellington Band, versing himself in the music of its namesake and the classic repertoire of Count Basie. This foundation in swing distinguished him early on as an artist who knows that, to architect a sustainable future, one must mine raw materials from the past. Tapping the roots of tradition in the Southwest gave him more than enough minerals to sustain his relocation to the Southeast, where he studied at the prestigious University of Miami Frost School of Music. While there, he completed his undergraduate studies in Jazz Saxophone Performance and graduate studies in Studio Jazz Writing, gaining invaluable mentorship and experience as a member of the Henry Mancini Institute Jazz Septet under famed trumpeter Terence Blanchard. With Blanchard's encouragement, Weitz strengthened his personal voice, and then some, emerging from the Miami program with an in-depth knowledge of composition that imbues his originals with robust, memorable melodies and structural integrity. The classical rigor of those melodies is just as evident in the way he improvises around them. Since graduating, Alex's primary musical focus has been on performing, composing, and producing music with his ensemble, the Alex Weitz Group. March of 2013 saw their debut release Chroma, and after a long-awaited return his sophomore record Luma is set to be released in March of 2017. Weitz has been invited to appear at such topflight venues as the Kennedy Center with Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead, the Monterey Jazz Festival with the Frost Concert Jazz Band, the Arsht Center with George Benson's "Inspirations, " the Tucson Jazz Festival with Jimmy Cobb, Gusman Hall with Jeff "Tain" Watts and Dave Liebman, the Azamara Journey as a member of the Journey Orchestra, the Telluride Jazz Festival with the Telluride Youth All-Stars, and numerous local venues with his own group and as a sideman. In recognition of his excellence, Weitz received DownBeat's Outstanding Undergraduate Soloist award of 2013, as well as recognition from ASCAP as an outstanding young jazz composer, and in 2014 his original "Song for Peace" was featured as the theme song for the Swedish documentary Bettan's Taxi. The upcoming year is already looking to be a breakout one for Weitz, and with the release of Luma it's only a matter of time before discerning ears will awaken to his unmistakable voice. . Did You Know kicks things off with panache by luring us into the album's decidedly cinematic atmospheres. Here, Weitz and his sidemen show us the rewards of patience in their downright visual feel for melody. Pianist Tal Cohen, bassist Ben Tiberio, and drummer Michael Piolet build on their longstanding friendship, which translates into a uniquely synergistic rapport in the studio. The organic care with which the quartet approaches this and every tune that follows is what glues the album together out of seemingly disparate parts. Whether in the driving energies of Outer Noise or the legato poetry of Let It Go, Alex and company show remarkable willingness to follow every narrative element to its logical end. But where the bandleader truly sheds his age is in the balladry of the album's title track. Luma is an astonishing duet with Cohen at the keyboard. Its brooding intimacy finds likeminded sentiment in Equilibrium, which plays more freely and primes plenty of canvas for the band to paint. Weitz's two-part Song For Peace is another highlight, not least of all for revealing deep classical influences in his work. Here the theme takes inspiration from the Romantics, building increasingly complex structures on a lyrical foundation. Azalea, by extension, is an impressionistic gem, more Debussy than Duke. The album closes with the aptly titled Reminiscence, which begins reflectively but gives way to some bursts of color from Piolet at the kit, thereby showing the breadth of Weitz's penchant for taking giant steps of his own into and beyond the stratosphere of his own vision. Like the best ensemble casts, Weitz and his crew present us with a full-blown narrative that is warm and timely for its early spring release. And while it is a follow-up, Luma is that rare sequel for expanding its origin story to unusually inevitable degree. Chalk this up to Weitz's ability as a curator of emotional impressions, as a writer of songs without words, and as an artist who creates as of a way of intuiting what lies ahead. write your comments about the article :: © 2017 Jazz News :: home page |