Art Works Podcast: NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston


NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston. Photo by Tom Pich
NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston. Photo by Tom Pich
Washington, DC In this week's podcast , pianist, composer, NEA Jazz Master and 2011 Guggenheim Fellow Randy Weston talks about his life in music. And what a life he’s led! For six decades, he has  embodied world music, traveling and performing in five continents, always listening for the traditional music in whatever country he visited. But Weston’s central interest has been the music, history, and traditions of Africa. His passion was the explicit African roots of American Jazz---and he returned to that continent again and again to find and expand those musical connections. He eventually moved to Morocco for seven years, opening the African Rhythms Club in 1969. There, he began a life-long creative collaboration with Gnawan musicians,  adopting their particular rhythms to the beat of American jazz.

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