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 By
Matthew Merewitz
Jon Weber
Simple Complex
2ndCenturyJazz Records
2004
Jon Weber is a virtuoso, pure and simple. Weber delivers
what amounts to a five star effort if only for his all original
program, incisive in its compositional aesthetic.
Just to set the record straight, we are not talking about
the more well-known bassist, John Webber. And we are talking
about a 42-year-old with many more prime years ahead of him.
He is certainly not 57, as the All Music Guide reports. Weber
has dedicated much of his 30-year career to being a self-sufficient
one-man band. How so? Weber studied and became a master of
stride and other early piano styles closely related to jazz
such as ragtime. He is called on annually to take these skills
on the road from Western Europe to Scandanavia to Australia.
A walking/talking musical encyclopedia with perfect pitch
and recall, Weber can spit out minute details of tens of thousands
of tunes he has internalized since his childhood years learning
piano rolls, which his grandmother had amassed. By his teens
Weber had opened for jazz luminaries such as Pat Metheny,
Buddy Rich, Freddie Hubbard, Angela Bofill, and Stanley Turrentine.
On a cell phone call I recently had with Weber, he demonstrated
this extraordinary ability. When I told him that I am from
Chevy Chase, MD, he immediately retorted “Chevy Chase,”
and proceded to play an eponymous composition by composer
Eubie Blake, who Weber knew was from this region—Baltimore
to be exact. He even spat out the year that it was written
and what for.
On Simple Complex Weber has amassed a stellar line-up of
international headliners of today’s jazz scene. These
include fellow Chicagoan Kurt Elling, Mark Walker on drums
and Diego Urcola on trumpet (both of Paquito D’Rivera’s
working bands), tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, Roy Hargrove
on flugelhorn, session oboist Paul McCandless, Gary Burton
on vibes for several tracks and bassists Avishai Cohen and
the world’s most famous Danish bassist Niels-Henning
Ørsted Pedersen. Also be sure to be on the lookout
for young Australian Matt Clohesy, whom Weber discovered while
on tour “Down Under.”
Alexander’s burnished tenor combined with Urcola’s
raw Latin-bop flair add a powerful confidence and depth to
blowing tunes like “Hot Ice,” “Drastic Steps,”
and the final cut, “Triska Deka.” Alexander masterfully
builds his solo so well on “Drastic Steps” that
he had me skipping back over the same part again and again
to hear how he moved into such a great double-time figure
while staying in-sync with the rhythm section. Equally notable
is Walker's layered polyrhythmic figures on the title tune.
Weber’s up-tempo solo flights show his dedication to
razor-sharp chops. At the same time his slower lush harmonic
ballads are equally stirring. Check the “one take wonder,”
Roy Hargrove, as he and Weber duo on “No More Words.”
Also check out Walker’s sauntering bongos on “Mister
Kleckley,” against a funky horn line and Kurt Elling’s
hip scatted unison accompaniment to the horn melody on “Is
it Only Me?”
This disc will take any listener on an unexpected mystical
journey with unexpected turns at every corner. Weber’s
effort is unequaled on several levels by many more well-known
artists on major labels. And there is enough diversity of
material on this CD to satisfy almost any taste. Bottom line:
Jon Weber deserves your attention. Watch out for him in the
next few years.
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