Randy Weston © Andrea Canter

James Reese Europe was an American ragtime and early jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer. In 1918, Lt. James Reese Europe made military and music history by being the first African American to lead troops into battle during World War One and to spread the 'jazz germ' throughout continental Europe. Mr. Europe obtained a Commission in the New York Army National Guard, where he saw combat as a lieutenant with the 369th Infantry Regiment (the "Harlem Hellfighters"), the band of which he directed to great acclaim. Randy Weston African Rhythms Orchestra Celebrates James Reese Europe & Harlem Hellfighters, Saturday February 25,  at 8:00 p.m. at Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York. NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston has spent most of his career combining the rich music of the African continent with the African-American tradition of jazz, mixing rhythms and melodies into a hybrid musical stew. In addition to Randy Weston, the African Rhythms Orchestra includes T.K.Blue on saxophones, Neil Clarke on percussion, Alex Blake on bass, Howard Johnson on tuba, Vincent Ector on drum, Ayodele  Ankhtawi Maakheru on banjo and Robert Trowers on trombone.

Randy Weston received his earliest training from private teachers in a household that nurtured his budding musicianship. Growing up in Brooklyn, Weston was influenced by such peers as saxophonist Cecil Payne and trumpeter Ray Copeland as well as the steady influx of great jazz musicians who frequented Brooklyn clubs and jam sessions on a regular basis. Such musicians as Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington would have a lasting influence on Weston's music, both in terms of his piano playing and composition.

After a 1945 stint in the Army, Weston began playing piano with such rhythm-and-blues bands as Bull Moose Jackson and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson. At the Music Inn educational retreat in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1954, he took work as a cook during the summer, while playing the piano at night. The head of Riverside Records, Orrin Keepnews, heard him and signed Weston to do a record of Cole Porter standards.

Weston's recording sessions frequently included contributions from his Brooklyn neighborhood buddies Copeland, Payne, and bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik. It was at this early juncture that he also began his long and fruitful musical partnership with trombonist-arranger Melba Liston (a listing of some of the albums on which they collaborated can be found in the Liston Selected Discography), a relationship that would continue until her death in 1999, forming some of Weston's best recordings.

Weston's interest in the African continent was sparked at an early age, and he lectured and performed in Africa in the early 1960s. He toured 14 African countries with his ensemble in 1967 on a State Department tour, eventually settling in Rabat, Morocco. He later moved to Tangier, opening the African Rhythms Club in 1969. It was in Morocco that Weston first forged unique collaborations with Berber and Gnawan musicians, infusing his jazz with African music and rhythms.

Since returning to the U.S. in 1972, he has lived in Brooklyn, traveling extensively overseas with bands that generally include trombonist Benny Powell and longtime musical director, saxophonist Talib Kibwe (aka T.K. Blue). In recent years, a number of Weston's U.S. concert appearances have been true events, including 1998 and 1999 Brooklyn and Kennedy Center collaborations with the Master Musicians of Gnawa, and a triumphant 1998 recreation of his masterwork suite "Uhuru Africa" in Brooklyn. Many of Weston's compositions, such as "Hi Fly" and "Berkshire Blues," have become jazz standards. In 2010, Weston's autobiography, African Rhythms, was published.

Biographical information was adapted from the NEA Jazz Matsers website: http://www.nea.gov/honors/jazz/

James Reese Europe & Harlem Hellfighters

“I have come from France more firmly convinced than ever that Negros should write Negro music. We have our own racial feeling and if we try to copy whites we will make bad copies…We won France by playing music which was ours and not a pale imitation of others, and if we are to develop in America we must develop along our own lines.” - James Reese Europe, 1919

Randy Weston African Rhythms Orchestra Celebrates James Reese Europe & Harlem Hellfighters, Saturday February 25,  at 8:00 p.m. at Tribeca Performing Arts Center located at 199 Chambers Street, New York, NY. For tickets and other information, call the Tribeca Ticketing Services at (212) 220-1460 or visit tribecapac.org/music.htm

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