Jon Weber©Andrea Canter

There are many ingredients to cooking up a successful jazz festival, and every summer Steve Heckler manages to come up with the right recipe for the Twin Cities (Hot Summer) Jazz Festival. One of his perennial ingredients is the always-inventive, encyclopedic sage of the keyboards, Jon Weber. This Friday night (January 22nd) at the Artists Quarter, Jon makes a rare winter appearance, an early kick-off to the next festival season. (Note early start time of 8 pm!)

Jon Weber©Andrea Canter

Jon Weber is a good example of an artist living up to his early potential. As a toddler in Milwaukee playing a toy organ, it was soon apparent that he had both perfect pitch and memory; by age 6 Jon had memorized 2,000 songs from his grandmother’s old piano rolls. His mother recalls, "When he wasn't riding his bike, solving math problems, or memorizing things, he was in the breezeway replaying Dr. Suess and Bugs Bunny records, changing the chords every time. He'd invent a different arrangement each time he played a tune, improvising, quoting; shuffling the deck. It was always like a game for him."  

A self-taught musician, Weber took off two years from piano during his teens to develop counterpoint in his left hand by playing guitar. Returning to the piano, Jon and his quintet opened for Pat Metheny, Buddy Rich, Freddie Hubbard, and Stanley Turrentine at major summer jazz festivals. Moving to Chicago in 1987, his career has since sent him around the world and into the recording studio. In addition to his remarkable chops, Jon Weber is well known for his incredible music knowledge. He’s been the subject of profiles by CNN, CNBC, Black Entertainment TV, Bravo/Arts, National Public Radio, and Voice of America. After appearing on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, Weber was commissioned by Warner Brothers to transcribe "Portraits, " a book of Marian's improvised piano solo compositions. Recently Jon has been splitting his time between Chicago and New York, where he will be performing weekly in the famed Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel this spring.

Jon Weber©Andrea Canter

Jon has been the "house pianist" for most of the Twin Cities Jazz Festivals of the past decade. In 2009, he made multiple appearances including in tandem with young sax whiz Alex Han at the Hat Trick Lounge, Mears Park and Artists Quarter, and in trio with Gordy Johnson and Phil Hey in Bloomington. Come out to the Artists Quarter on Friday night, January 22nd, for an evening of virtuoso piano and entertaining commentary on the music, and preview one of the top acts of the summer festival. Yes, Jon will be back in June 2010! 

The Artists Quarter is located at 408 St Peter Street in downtown St. Paul; www. artistsquarter.com. Show at 8 pm.

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