Ad
Dan Weisselberg Trio brings up-tempo NYC jazz to Farmington, Santa Fe
Published
Modified
How did jazz bassist Dan Weisselberg meet the other members of his trio?
“On Tinder,” he said.
“I’m kidding. We would see each other at all the (jazz) shows,” Weisselberg continued. “We’d all go see the great (drummer) Joe Farnsworth and (pianist) Tardo Hammer and (pianist) Michael Kanan and all the good people here in New York City. So, we just kind of met on the scene.”
“Then, we started to get together for afternoon jam sessions to play a little bit and then go out together,” he said.
The Dan Weisselberg Trio is currently on tour promoting their debut album. They are playing in Farmington on Wednesday, July 2, then playing Unit B in Santa Fe on Thursday, July 3.
Weisselberg said it was clear from the first few jam sessions that the three musicians had a lot in common.
“We had all played for many years in different constellations with different people,” Weisselberg said. “So pretty much our whole lives we’ve been developing our stuff. But when we started to play together, we realized we were all relying on the same inspirations. We have the same references. We all like (bebop pianists) Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell.”
“We didn’t decide to become a band at first. We were just three guys playing in New York City. But because we realized we got inspiration from playing with each other, we decided to move forward with it. And it was a very natural thing, because we all like the same stuff,” he said.
The Dan Weisselberg Trio has an upbeat, energetic sound that’s both sophisticated and approachable, incorporating elements of swing along with bebop and hard bop influences.
“It’s a classic piano trio format of piano, (upright) bass and drums. And we are very much swing oriented,” Weisselberg said.
Ad
Weisselberg and pianist, Iftah Kary, were both born in Israel, although they met in New York City.
“I’ve been playing here in New York for about 10 years. Our drummer (Aleksi Heinola) is the newest member, who moved to New York about two years ago from Finland.”
“Jazz is a really beautiful American art form, and none of us is American,” Weisselberg said. “But that just shows you how art has a way to reach the hearts of people everywhere.”
Growing up in Israel, Weisselberg wasn’t exposed to much jazz until he started studying music around the age of 14.
“I was given a record of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, and I was very intrigued by what was going on there. So, that started the ball rolling,” he said.
All three members of the trio came to jazz as outsiders but approached the genre with sincerity and passion.
“We are part of a long lineage that we really respect, and we just try to play our role to continue it,” he said. “We do it because we love it. We are not trying to preserve something for the sake of preservation, but this music just really touched us all in ways that made us want to share our love of the music.”
The trio has played with many esteemed jazz musicians, including Grant Stewart, Pasquale Grasso, Eric Alexander, John Webber, Joe Farnsworth, Joe Magnarelli, Johnny O’Neal, Chris Flory and Fukushi Tainaka. And they regularly perform at renowned New York City venues like Smalls, Mezzrow Smoke, Ornithology, Zinc Barand Fat Cat (now Cellar Dog). But they love touring, as well.
“We played in New Mexico in December 2023, and we were happy to come for the adventure,” Weisselberg said. “I loved the energy of the place, and we saw some beautiful scenery, so we’re looking forward to coming back.”
