feature photo: John Rogers
Dan Weiss is a drummer, composer and bandleader who wears all those hats in pursuit of higher, challenging forms of jazz. His longest running project has been his venerable Trio, started around 2000 with Jacob Sacks (piano) and Thomas Morgan (bass), two brilliant talents who are ascending even today. But Weiss is too restless to tie himself to a single approach and he’s branched out to other, ambitious projects such as his foray into orchestral jazz (Sixteen: Drummers Suite) and his experimental metal Starebaby project. And then there are his earnest explorations into Indian folk music.
Weiss went back and revisited some of his roots on his 2022 release. For Dedication (Cygnus Recordings), Weiss names checks and honors people important to him, both professionally and personally, and he’s once again leading his old trio for their fourth album. Don’t think for a minute that Weiss’ nostalgia had translated into regression. It’s quite the opposite.
In fact, Weiss’ inventiveness is on display from the get-go: the major chord-laden “For Tim Smith” not only sports an uncommon sequence of chords but unexpected hitches in the rhythm that make you sit up and pay attention. “For Nancarrow” is a clever exercise in metric modulation, which Sacks navigates through like a walk in the park. When Sacks and Morgan stop, Weiss’ drums alone suggest the harmonic shape of the song.
For all the advanced music theory Weiss has leveraged for his songs, he hadn’t forsaken the human element in his music. “For George Floyd” suggests in a balletic way the sorrow and rage in the aftermath of the subject’s brutal murder.
“For Jacob,” a hat tip to the pianist and Weiss’ longtime musical partner, showcasing Sacks’ angularity always present in his piano as much as his melodic sensibility. He stretches out toward Cecil Taylor. territory and Weiss is right along with him, but goes inside a much as he goes out. Sacks has classical chops, too, on full display for Weiss’ graceful, building pean to a Soviet filmmaker, “For Andrei Tarkovsky.”
“For Bacharach” underscores the deceptive approach to pop tunesmithing undertaken by one of the greatest pop composers of all time, making eminently catchy tunes that are nonetheless laced with odd key changes and bridges that shouldn’t fit but they somehow do. Weiss’ tune is also deceptive, appearing a lot more straightforward than it actually is.
Morgan plays the central role on “For Elvin (Jones),” a bass line that’s not only holding down the motif but also mirroring Weiss’ daunting patter. Like “For Nancarrow,” Weiss wraps it up on his own and by that time, you’re playing the absent bass part in your head.
Dan Weiss sums up his mission thusly: “I like to think of myself as someone who is coming out of the tradition but trying to push it forward.” His innate understanding of tradition picked up from key influences made it possible to move forward in the salient, discriminating way that he did for Dedication.
Procure your copy of Dedication from Bandcamp.
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