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Deborah Weisz

From playing in the Sahara Desert, just North of Timbuktu, with Roswell Rudd’s Trombone Shout Band (2004), to creating music in a grain silo at an artist colony in upstate New York, to traveling all over the world with Frank Sinatra (1987 - 1994); trombonist/composer Deborah Weisz’s life in music has been filled with diversity.

Originally from Chicago, IL, Deborah’s family moved to Phoenix, AZ where she began playing the trombone at the age of 10. When asked why she chose the trombone... “when the band director was naming instruments I thought I would play flute or clarinet, but when he said ‘trombone’ my hand went up. I don’t know why, it just did. It was the beginning of my life-long love of the trombone!”

As a young musician coming up in the public school music programs there was plenty of opportunity to play all styles of music, but Deborah was always attracted to jazz and improvisation. “I had many wonderful teachers, in particular, Mr. Pat Lebs. He was my band director my first two years of high school (Alhambra High School, Phoenix, AZ). While working with me on Ave Maria, as a solo piece, he would have me sing the melody and spoke about how I should always focus on ‘singing’ through my trombone."

After high school Deborah chose to attend Mesa Community College (MCC) in Mesa, AZ. “I had heard from other young musicians that if you wanted to be creative and play jazz, that this was the place to go. The program at MCC was all about communicating through music, and what I learned there, from the incredible teachers that I was so fortunate to study with (Grant Wolf, Don Bothwell, Roger Harris & Jim Hendricks), has stayed with me and continues to influence me.”

After finishing her A.A. in Music Performance (1982) at MCC, Deborah moved to Las Vegas, NV to finish up her B.A. in Music Performance (1984) at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). “While attending UNLV I began studying trombone with another wonderful teacher, Bobby Scann, who showed me what was really there in Las Vegas; an amazing community of great trombone players. The 11 1/2 years I spent in Las Vegas were what I call my years in ‘trombone school.’ I had the opportunity to play with all the trombone players in town, study with some of them, and learn from all their own experiences.”

It was a great opportunity for Deborah as Las Vegas, at the time, was filled with many musicians who had worked extensively with all the great jazz big bands, and had moved to Las Vegas to settle down and work there in the 1950s & 1960s. “I was the age of their own kids, and they told me their stories of being on the road with groups such as Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington. The musical history lessons were just as important as the trombone lessons. It was an amazing place to be as a young trombonist.”

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6
Album Review

Schapiro 17: Human Qualities

Read "Human Qualities" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Following its splendid premiere recording, an exploration of Miles Davis' unrivaled album Kind Of Blue (Capitol Records, 1959), composer/arranger Jon Schapiro's 17-member ensemble broadens its horizons on Human Qualities, pairing seven of the maestro's astute and adventurous charts with the Roberta Flack best-seller, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." This time around, Schapiro proves that he need rely on nothing more than his own considerable experience as a jazz artist to create an album that expresses his point ...

5
Album Review

Schapiro 17: New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60

Read "New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Miles Davis' album Kind Of Blue (Columbia, 1959) is the best-selling jazz album of all time and has been highly influential for the last 60 years. Most of its five tracks have become jazz standards and have been interpreted time and again. However it is rare to see the entire album reworked to the extent that Jon Schapiro and his big band, Schapiro 17, do here. The tracks undergo extensive retooling, expanding into big band arrangements that carry on the ...

7
Album Review

Schapiro 17: New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60

Read "New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60" reviewed by Jack Bowers


2019 marked the sixtieth anniversary of the Miles Davis sextet's acclaimed album, Kind of Blue (Columbia). While the tributes didn't exactly pour in, New York-based composer / arranger Jon Schapiro took it upon himself not only to revisit that classic session but to re-orchestrate it for a large ensemble (the Schapiro 17) and flesh it out with half a dozen compositions of his own and another by pianist Roberta Piket. In keeping with the spirit of the occasion, all of ...

220
Album Review

Deborah Weisz: Trio

Read "Trio" reviewed by Laurel Gross


When some people talk about jazz being good because it is “relaxing," this listener wants to scream: What's wrong with these people? Jazz should be all kinds of things, but “relaxing ? That word seems to imply that the music is not challenging, interesting. Well, here's one case where this writer might have to eat her words. Trio is a highly engaging and likeable foray into mostly straight-ahead territory; yes, served straight up but with a twist. ...

218
Album Review

Deborah Weisz: Trio

Read "Trio" reviewed by Larry Taylor


Pleasantly relaxing--that's the way to describe trombonist Deborah Weisz and her sisters in sound, guitarist Sheryl Bailey and bassist Nicki Parrott, on Trio.

This loosely swinging session features standards, mixed with several originals from Weisz and Bailey. The fact that the group has played regularly at The Garage in New York City's Greenwich Village is always apparent in their cohesive arrangements. With Weisz's lush, warm sound leading, all have ample solo time as well. ...

203
Album Review

Deborah Weisz: Grace (for Will)

Read "Grace (for Will)" reviewed by Robert R. Calder


Deborah Weisz dedicates “Grace," which opens her album of the same name, to her brother Will, marking her struggle back into composition after his untimely death silenced her for a while. From dissociated flutterings of all the instruments, including harmonica, comes the big, blurry trombone sound of the leader with minimal accompaniment. Andrew Sterman's hard-toned neo-Coltrane tenor solos untamed and there's a rock-style solo from Sheryl Bailey, who can do much more. The following piece, Weisz's “Zoneing," inspired by George ...

206
Album Review

Deborah Weisz Quintet: Grace (For Will)

Read "Grace (For Will)" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Deborah Weisz makes a strong statement and underlines her credentials as a composer and trombone player on Grace, her second album. She defines different styles with a compact sense of accomplishment, an attribute that also owes its devolution to her fine band.

The opening track was written for her brother Will. It is full of surprises, its twists and turns keeping you on edge, then coming to a highly satisfactory resolution. Weisz opens the soundscape in a soft ...

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112

Recording

Trombonist Deborah Weisz Announces the Release of Trio

Trombonist Deborah Weisz Announces the Release of Trio

Source: All About Jazz

Trombonist-composer-arranger Deborah Weisz announces the release of her new CD TRIO, with a street date set for June 12, 2007. The project, featuring Weisz on trombone, Sheryl Bailey on guitar and Nicki Parrott on bass, is a lively mix of original compositions, and classics by Monk and Dameron. Weisz notes that much of the music is from her “Garage" years--named for the Greenwich Village club of the same name--where the trio often performed, while the remainder of the cuts were ...

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Recording

Deborah Weisz Quintet's Grace Coming September 27th

Deborah Weisz Quintet's Grace Coming September 27th

Source: All About Jazz

NEW YORK, NY -- On September 27th, the Deborah Weisz Quintet will release its second CD, Grace (Va Wah 002), featuring special guest, chromatic harmonica player/composer Olivier Ker Ourio. Led by veteran trombonist/composer Deborah Weisz, this longstanding New York-based ensemble includes tenor saxophonist/flautist Andrew Sterman, guitarist Sheryl Bailey, bassist Nicki Parrott and drummer Eric Halvorson. Grace, the long-awaited follow-up to 1997's Breaking Up, Breaking Out (Va Wah 001), is dedicated to Ms. Weisz's late brother Will, and features her original ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Human Qualities

Summit Records
2021

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New Shoes: Kind of...

Summit Records
2020

buy

Trio

Va Wah
2008

buy

Trio

Va Wah
2007

buy

Trio

Jazzmama
2005

buy

TRIO-Once

From: Trio
By Deborah Weisz

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