Dan Weiss Tri0

Dan Weiss Trio

Dan Weiss- drums
Jacob Sacks- piano
Thomas Morgan- upright bass

Latest Album

‘Dedication’ released November 11, 2022 (CYGNUS RECORDINGS)

Over more than two decades as a working group, the Dan Weiss Trio — with Weiss on drums, Jacob Sacks on piano and Thomas Morgan on bass — has forged its style out of quick-twitch reflexes and an almost telepathic intuition. Dedication, on Cygnus Recordings, explores some heroes in Weiss’ pantheon, with pieces titled “For Elvin,” “For Andrei Tarkovsky,” and with due solemnity, “For George Floyd.” Nov. 11. Cygnus. (Nate Chinen - WRTI)

Press

JazzTrail /All About Jazz / 15 Questions /Jazz Fun /Jazz Halo / The Stash Dauber / Best of Jazz

PRevious Albums

‘UTICA BOX’ BY DAN WEISS TRIO +1 RELEASED NOVEMBER 2019 ON SUNNYSIDE RECORDS

The music of drummer/composer Dan Weiss always exceeds expectations. No matter the musical situation, he tends to push the boundaries of genre, ensemble sound and expectations. The title of his new trio recording, Utica Box, is a fitting conflagration of a barbaric psychiatric treatment, the Utica crib, and Weiss’s tendency to write and perform music that is outside the box.

Just like the Utica crib, the expectations of jazz listeners can create a claustrophobic setting for musicians. Weiss is a student of jazz and drumming but doesn’t want to be confined to either’s past. His own musical studies have bridged the world of jazz with that of metal, Indian and contemporary classical music. Thus, Weiss breaks the barriers between all these to create his own rhythmically driven and technically demanding music, music outside of the box.

Weiss’s trio has evolved over the past decade as their regular performances have allowed them a near telepathic communication. Pianist Jacob Sacks is a tremendous asset as his approach to the instrument is deft and his method studied. Weiss employs two bassists on Utica Box, singly and dually, depending on what his compositions ask for and the strengths of the bassist. Thomas Morgan and Eivind Opsvik are both at the top of their field on their instrument, Morgan an especially solid accompanist and improviser and the incredibly supportive Opsvik, a master of bowing.

Playing with the trio allows Weiss to focus on a classic element in the jazz tradition, namely the piano trio, and reshape the expressive possibilities to his demanding music. The addition of a second bassist for a number of pieces creates a unique texture and feel.

As a student of the drum and constant practitioner, Weiss has begun to focus on the drumset as a starting point for composition. His past trio projects found him composing from the piano but his recent work has found him utilizing ideas developed in study to become kernels of compositional ideas. Consequently, the pieces utilize more extended musical forms, becoming longer and more openly structured. The repetition inherent to the pieces becomes a basis for improvisation.