Ezra Weiss

Ezra Weiss stands out as a skilled pianist on acoustic instruments who also composes, directs ensembles, and crafts arrangements. Jazz observers have frequently labeled him a “Young Lion,” meaning an emerging improviser devoted to straight-ahead jazz instead of fusion, avant-garde experiments, crossover efforts, or electric jazz-funk. He surfaced during the 1990s yet drew inspiration from figures who rose to prominence in the 1940s, 1950s, or 1960s. Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Cedar Walton, and Kenny Barron shaped his keyboard approach, while Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers guided his arranging and leadership methods. Weiss harbors deep admiration for the classic Blue Note sessions of the 1950s and 1960s, and numerous musicians who influenced him as a soloist, writer, or arranger maintain some connection to that label. Blakey and Silver, for instance, recorded prolifically for Blue Note during that era, and Walton belonged to one of Blakey's many Jazz Messengers lineups.

Born in Phoenix, AZ, during the late 1970s, Weiss relocated to Ohio in the 1990s and enrolled at Oberlin Conservatory, where he completed a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz composition in 2001. He subsequently settled in Portland, OR, and immersed himself in the city's jazz community. There he has fronted both a quartet and a sextet modeled on the hard bop and post-bop style of the Jazz Messengers. Portland also served as the base for his band Blues Connotation, which issued the album Preview. In 2002—the same year he received ASCAP's Young Jazz Composer Award—a 23-year-old Weiss journeyed to New York City to cut his first recording, The Five A.M. Strut. On that release he led a sextet through exclusively original material, with Antonio Hart featured on alto sax and Billy Hart handling drums. The Five A.M. Strut appeared on the Umoja label in 2003; Weiss shared production duties with acoustic bassist Leon Lee Dorsey.