25 Facts About Randy Weston

Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection.

Randolph Edward Randy Weston was born on April 6,1926, to Vivian and Frank Randy Weston and was raised in Brooklyn, New York, where his father owned a restaurant.

Randy Weston's mother was from Virginia and his father was of Jamaican-Panamanian descent, a staunch Garveyite, who passed self-reliant values to his son.

Randy Weston studied classical piano as a child and took dance lessons.

Randy Weston graduated from Boys High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where he had been sent by his father because of the school's reputation for high standards.

Randy Weston took piano lessons from someone known as Professor Atwell who, unlike his former piano teacher Mrs Lucy Chapman, allowed him to play songs outside the classical music repertoire.

In 1951, retreating from the atmosphere of drug use common on the New York jazz scene, Randy Weston moved to Lenox, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires.

Randy Weston worked with Kenny Dorham in 1953, and in 1954 with Cecil Payne, before forming his own trio and quartet and releasing his debut recording as a leader in 1954, Cole Porter in a Modern Mood.

Randy Weston was voted New Star Pianist in DownBeat magazine's International Critics' Poll of 1955.

Randy Weston covered the Nigerian Bobby Benson's piece "Niger Mambo", which included Caribbean and jazz elements within a Highlife style, and has recorded this number many times throughout his career.

In 1967, Randy Weston traveled throughout Africa with a US cultural delegation.

In 1977, Randy Weston participated in FESTAC, the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, held in Lagos, Nigeria; other artists appearing there included Osibisa, Miriam Makeba, Bembeya Jazz, Louis Moholo, Dudu Pukwana, Donald Byrd, Stevie Wonder and Sun Ra.

Randy Weston made a two-CD recording The Spirits of Our Ancestors, which featured arrangements by his long-time collaborator Melba Liston.

Randy Weston produced a series of albums in a variety of formats: solo, trio, mid-sized groups, and collaborations with the Gnawa musicians of Morocco.

Randy Weston's compositions have frequently been recorded by such prominent musicians as Abdullah Ibrahim, Houston Person, and Booker Ervin, among others.

In 2002, Randy Weston performed with bassist James Lewis for the inauguration of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt.

Randy Weston played at the Kamigamo Shrine in Japan in 2008.

On November 17,2014, as part of the London Jazz Festival, Randy Weston played a duo concert with Harper at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

In 2015, Randy Weston was artist-in-residence at The New School in New York, participating in a lecture series, performing, and mentoring students.

Randy Weston celebrated his 90th birthday in 2016 with a concert at Carnegie Hall, among other activities, and continued thereafter to tour and speak internationally.

Randy Weston performed at the Gnawa Festival in Morocco in April 2016, took part in the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, on June 2, and was among the opening acts at the 50th Montreux Jazz Festival.

Randy Weston's last release, the double-CD set titled Sound, was a recording of a solo piano concert that took place at the Hotel Montreux Palace, Switzerland, on July 17 and 18,2001.

Randy Weston died at his home in Brooklyn on the morning of September 1,2018, aged 92.

In October 2010, Duke University Press published African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston, "composed by Randy Weston, arranged by Willard Jenkins".

Randy Weston takes the reader on a wonderful, exciting journey from America to Africa and back with the ease of a person who loved every minute of it.