Pianist/composer Randy Weston preferred to be known as a storyteller, rather than as a jazz musician. That storytelling tradition, said alto saxophonist/flutist T.K. Blue, emanated from the griots and jeliws — the oral historians who kept the stories of Africa alive, stories that Weston told through his music. Although born in the United States to Jamaican/Panamanian and American parents, Weston traveled extensively through Africa and lived in Morocco and Tangiers.
Blue (photo above) had been a band member and close friend of Weston’s since the late 1980s, and, in the early ’90s, stepped in as his principal arranger and musical director when trombonist/composer Melba Liston became ill., Weston would have celebrated his 100th birthday on April 6, 2026, and on Sunday, May 3, Blue paid tribute to him at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert in Madison, NJ.
The program began with an interview of Blue by jazz historian Noal Cohen (photo below), followed by a musical performance by a quartet that included pianist Aaron Graves, bassist Santi Dibriano, and drummer George Coleman, Jr.
Blue spoke about some of Weston’s best-known songs and albums such as “Hi-Fly” (on several of his albums), The Spirits of Our Ancestors (Verve: 1992), and Blue Moses (CTI: 1972), his most commercially successful recording. Then, the quartet brought Weston’s magic to life.
The repertoire included “Little Niles,” the title track of his 1959 United Artists album; “The Sad Beauty Blues” from his 1993 Antilles/Verve/Gitanes album, Volcano Blues, a collaboration with Liston; and the previously mentioned “High-Fly” and “Blue Moses”.
Like many legendary jazz musicians, Weston is not as well known to the general public as he should be, but the moving performance and delightful reminiscences from T.K. Blue should now be firmly rooted in the musical memories of those audience members fortunate enough to be in Madison on May 3. A big thanks to Noal Cohen for making this program possible.
T.K. BLUE PHOTO BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
NOAL COHEN/T.K. BLUE PHOTO BY LYNNE MUELLER
