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Jimmy Weinstein

Drummer/composer, Jimmy Weinstein was born in Chicago, IL. he moved with his wandering family from Chicago to Europe, back to California and later to Spain. As a child he studied piano and cello. At age 13 he taught himself drums and guitar, and played in school bands and musicals. After finishing high school in Spain he went to England to pursue a career as a yacht designer, which eventually landed him a job in New York City where he began to study jazz, working as a designer by day and studying at the Drummer's Collective and Barry Harris' Jazz Cultural Theater by night. He also studied and jammed with bop saxophonist Clarence"C" Sharpe during that time. In 1986 he moved to Boston and attended Berklee, where he studied jazz with Joe Hunt and drumset technique with world renowned maestro, Alan Dawson. Later he played in small and large ensembles directed by Max Roach. Over the course of time, didactic encounters with Jaco Pastorious, Paul Bley, David Liebman, Yusef Lateef, Bob Brookmeyer, Peter Erskine, Bob Moses, Karl Berger, and Nasyr Abdul Al-khabyyr all influenced him greatly.

After completing a degree at Berklee, he was encouraged by Brookmeyer to "get a gig" by going out to play in the street. He took this advice very seriously and embarked on a 3 year experience of playing the streets of Cambridge and Boston . This is how he developed his sound, and concept often spending 12 hours a day experimenting with diverse and unusual formations. Street bands frequently included Jeff Parker, Oscar Noriega, Andrew d'Angelo, Don Houge and guitarist Elie Massias with whom he formed his first band, Jimmy Weinstein Group with bassist Masa Kamaguchi and saxophonist Chris Cheek. In 1993 he moved back to New York, and recorded his group's first album, Nostalgia. The album was critically acclaimed in Downbeat, Jazz Times and other publications. Critic John Andrews called him a "restless, inventive drummer" and praised the album highly. Modern Drummer wrote "Weinstein successfully explores the noir-ish balance of dangling space and interaction". A follow-up recording Sound Emotion was produced by Gunther Schuller. As a development of his group and sound, this album featured mostly the leader's compositions. To date Weinstein has recorded over 20 albums as a leader or sideman, on labels which include, Fresh Sound, Clean Feed, CIMP, El Gallo Rojo, Accurate, Splasch, GM, and Philology

While re-based in Brooklyn, Weinstein cultivated experimental groups that performed in New York and toured Europe and Japan. In 1998 he co-founded the quartet, NAM with Ahmed Abdullah, Alex Harding and Masa Kamaguchi. New projects include recordings with Marcello Tonolo Trio, Renzi/Senni/Weinstein as well as Weinstein's projects with Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura of which there is a CD entitled This Ocean. A jazz -rock trio with, Francesco Guaiana (guitar) and Luca Lo Bianco (bass), collectively known as Hitch_Hikers released in 2007. Other recording and touring projects include, Amy Kohn, Ahmed Abdullah's Diaspora, Ben Monder, Matt Renzi Group, Alex Harding's Free Flow, Sten Hosfalt, Rosario Di Rosa, Stefano Solani, Paolo Porta, Alfredo Ponissi, Dahlia and the Llamas, Frank Carlberg and Christine Correa. Jimmy also led the experimental trio RED that featured New York reedman Oscar Noriega and Chicago based omni-dimensional guitarist Jeff Parker.

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131
Album Review

Jimmy Weinstein: This Ocean

Read "This Ocean" reviewed by Jim Santella


Recorded on April 11, 2005 in New York, this quartet session brings four creative artists together for a program of impressions relating to the never-ending majesty of our Earth's oceans. Flowing seamlessly together with an intuitive cohesiveness, the musicians travel the Seven Seas to find encounters with a wide array of natural oceanic characteristics.

What makes their journey different from an actual ocean voyage (or hours of watching nature films) is the freedom with which Jimmy Weinstein's quartet ...

127
Album Review

Jimmy Weinstein's Natural Coincidence: This Ocean

Read "This Ocean" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


Pianist Satoko Fujii and her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, rarely lend their services as side players; in recent years they have contributed to recordings by Japanese free jazz pioneer Itaru Oki and the Rova saxophone quartet. But in the last two years Fujii and Tamura committed themselves to a new quartet led by American drummer and composer Jimmy Weinstein, called Natural Coincidence. This fourth member in this quartet is the Japanese bassist Masa Kamaguchi, who has collaborated with Weinstein since ...

119
Album Review

Jimmy Weinstein: Sound Emotion

Read "Sound Emotion" reviewed by Jack Bowers


There are times when the music on drummer Weinstein’s album is quite pleasant, others when it’s as exasperating and elusive as the abstruse liner notes. The over–arching idea, I suppose, is to present a varied menu, and that is good; on the other hand, some of what is presented is as welcome to me as broccoli or hominy grits. Those whose tastes encompass a wider sphere may look with favor on everything at this banquet table. I prefer the meat ...

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75

Performance / Tour

Sten Hostfalt & Jimmy Weinstein Live @ Stain Bar in New York on December 23rd

Sten Hostfalt & Jimmy Weinstein Live @ Stain Bar in New York on December 23rd

Source: All About Jazz


" A restless, inventive drummer" John Andrews, Downbeat
Primary Instrument

Drums

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Credentials/Background

Jimmy Weinstein's Traveling School The Traveling School Creative music workshops in schools, community centres or music festivals - the “Traveling School” has a unique approach involving participants in an emotional and dynamic experience. The workshops are designed to encourage people to improvise, and place an emphasis on group interaction. Jazz, Rock and Blues idioms are the springboards, and Traveling School specializes in helping anyone to learn to improvise

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

4 Stories

El Gallo Rojo Records
2011

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This Ocean

Xaloc Music
2007

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This Ocean

Xaloc Music
2006

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Sound Emotion

GM Recordings
1999

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