Hello friends! I’m checking in for a quick update before taking off on the ‘G3′ tour. I’m looking forward to getting back out on the road. It will be fun visiting New Zealand, as it will be my first time (outside of the airport) there. After some shows there, we’ll make our way to Australia, where I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends from my previous visits there. At the end of this run in Australia, we’ll part ways from ‘G3′, and finish off the tour with 3 Steve Lukather solo concerts in Japan. You may find some specific details found in my ‘events calendar’, found to the upper right of this article (mouse over the grey dates for more info).

It’s been an exciting time for Renee and I. We had another very successful show at the ‘Baked Potato’ on 3/3/12. It was at this show that my friend, Lou Spirito captured a lot of great photos of the band. This brought about the suggestion of doing a short, documentary style video. He’s done quite a lot of journalism work, and we had a great experience interacting with him. He assembled a nice video of Renee and I talking about the making of our album, ‘Dialogue’, working with the musicians on the album, and a little bit about playing live in L.A.:

Lou also put together a really nice video slideshow of  photos from that night at the Baked Potato. The video showcases music from the album ‘Dialogue’:

Special thanks to Lou Spirito Media!

Since this last performance, Renee and I have been very busy working on our next album. We have plans to record shortly after our return from the ‘G3′ tour. Our goal is to release this new work sometime during the summer of 2012. Please check back here for the latest info on this new recording project.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

There has been a lot of things happening for Renee and I regarding our album, ‘Dialogue’. We have engaged a company named Wavelength Radio Promotions who have been helping us to spread the word about our album. Initially, I have these articles/reviews to share with you:

JazzCorner News -Steve Weingart & Renee Jones

All About Jazz- Keyboardist Steve Weingart and bassist/vocalist Renee Jones

In the above mentioned ‘All About Jazz’ article, there is a ‘recommend’ icon above the body of the article. I was informed by our new friends at Wavelength that if you click on that icon, it helps place our CD on the ‘All About Jazz’ charts, so please feel free to click away! Once again, we’re both very grateful for all your support!

In other news, Renee and I are performing our second engagement in the L.A. area this Saturday (3/3/12). We’ll be at the Baked Potato (3787 Cahuenga Blvd. West. Studio City, CA 91604  phone: (818)980-1615), and the shows are at 9:30 and 11:30. The band personnel are the same as we had on the album: Renee and myself, along with Simon Phillips-drums, Katisse Buckingham-saxes/flutes, and Mike Miller-guitar. Our last show there in December was a blowout success. We had 2 sold out shows, and were the top pick of the week in the ‘LA Weekly’. (It was pretty amazing to be listed in the same listing as Stevie Wonder!)

Baked Potato 3/3/12

I also wanted to let you know that I’ve updated my gig calendar (found on this page to the right). Included in this update are the G3 (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Steve Lukather) tour dates in New Zealand and Australia. Here is the G3 website for more info: G3 -Satriani, Vai, Lukather

Thanks for checking in! More news to come soon… Have a great day!

On the subject of a “fast and eventful year”, I’d like to share some news with you in this post:

Just recently, I had the honor to spend some time on the digital ‘airwaves’ with Bill Murphy, a great guy I’m glad to call my new friend. Here is some info on Bill: http://murphonics.com/billmurphyshow.com/about/  and here is the link to the interview I did with him. It was a fun experience! Enjoy:

http://murphonics.com/billmurphyshow.com/2011/12/06/steve-weingart-the-fusion-of-jazz-and-rock/

Our ‘Dialogue’ album is now available as a hard copy, physical CD! The CDs can now be found at these internet stores:

CD Baby:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/steveweingartreneejones

Audiophile Imports:

http://audiophileimports.com/shop/product.php?productid=22481&cat=276&page=2

Abstract Logix:

http://www.abstractlogix.com/xcart/product.php?productid=25401

If you prefer the convenience of digital copies, you may still find that available at iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dialogue/id444485877

On this past December 17th, Renee and I had our premiere live performance of ‘Dialogue’ at the ‘Baked Potato’ club, here in the L.A. area. We had a packed house for both shows, and we couldn’t have asked for a nicer evening. The band was the same as the group that recorded: Renee and I, along with Simon Phillips-drums, Katisse Buckingham-saxes/flutes, and Mike Miller-guitar. We played almost all the music from the album with one exception: Renee and I worked up an arrangement of ‘Like A Bridge Over Troubled Water’. It was a touching moment for both of us to play a duet publicly for the first time. It was fun for us also, in that we got to interact jokingly with the audience in between songs. At one moment during the evening, I had to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. The band was playing the music like they’ve known it all their lives! Renee and I had a blast, and we are all hoping that this is the first of many to follow!

One more bit of news to share, on a personal note: Although Renee and I are ‘high school sweethearts’, we officially married on December 30th, 2000. Tomorrow is our special day, and I have to say, I’m one of the luckiest men alive. It all sounds cliché, but it is indeed true that my wife IS my best friend!

I wish you all a 2012 filled with happiness, good health, and prosperity!

There has been quite a bit going on since my last update, and I have to admit, I’ve been thinking about dropping this update in for quite some time.

One big event was one of my best friend’s (since high school) getting married. He (Todd), and his now, wife (Laura) got in touch to ask me if I could be part of the ceremony. Their timing couldn’t have been better. The wedding date fell after our last tour in Europe, but before a performance in Northern California (more on that below). Renee and I took a trip across the country to visit family in Ohio, then take a beautiful drive to Pittsburgh for the wedding. It was one really enjoyable weekend spent remembering our teen years, playing at the ceremony, and watching the newlyweds start their new lives together. I always marvel at how special moments make a mark in our memories. Times like this will stay with me forever.

Recently, I took a quick trip up to Northern California to perform with Victor Wooten at Stanford University. It was there that I met Rod Taylor (bassist, journalist and teacher) who invited Victor, his brother (guitarist) Reggie Wooten, (bassist) Steve Bailey, (drummer) J.D. Blair and me, to meet the freshman class. We were there to kick off the beginning of the school year at the University. We had a blast performing there, and enjoyed a wonderful reception by the students, administration, and teaching staff!

Since this last performance at Stanford, I’ve been hard at work practicing piano. It’s during breaks in time like this when I have an opportunity to break out my old classical music books, and tear into some new. It’s really easy to be motivated and inspired after watching Valentina Lisitsa on YouTube. I’ve been really enjoying learning Maurice Ravel’s “Le Tombeau du Couperin”, and “Gaspard de la Nuit”. I also have been picking up where I left off with Charles V. Alkan’s “Douze Etudes”. Chop shredders, for sure!

I’ve also been getting a head start on composing for our next album project…

Just last week, Renee and I performed with Steve Lukather at the Grammy Museum, here in L.A.. The museum is video recording a ‘guitar masters’ series and invited Luke to be a guest. It was a fun reunion with the band. The evening was broken into 2 parts. Part one (and the majority) was a question and answer/ interview with Luke. The second part was the performance with the band. It was a nice ‘warm up’ for our upcoming Europe tour!

We are still working on getting ‘Dialogue’ to listener’s ears. Fortunately, our first opportunity to play this music live has been booked. We (Renee and myself, along with Simon Phillips, Mike Miller, and Katisse Buckingham) will be performing at the world famous “Baked Potato” on December 17th. Its going to be a fun night! We are really looking forward to it, and I hope that this will be the first of many to follow!

Thanks for checking in! See ya soon…

Now that we are back home, it’s ‘catch up time’ domestically, and getting back on the west coast time zone. Of course, I’m looking forward to getting back to my classical studies and composing new music for my next album project.

On the subject of album projects, my good friend Christian Erber produced a radio show/interview on “Dialogue” which was aired on the “Play Jazz!” show on the NDR radio network in Germany. I was really pleased to hear about it! I heard an audio recording of it, and it was fun to hear my surname, ‘Weingart’ (of German descent), pronounced in German!
Fortunately, Christian was kind enough to provide me with an English translation, and I’d like to share it with you here:

“Steve Weingart – a name that currently only Jazz insiders are familiar with. But that might change soon. Weingart, keyboard player from the L.A. region, has just released his third solo album “Dialogue”. An album, Weingart wrote together with his wife, bass-player Renee Jones. But also several guests showed up while recording the album, e.g. Steve Lukather and Simon Phillips – both known for their TOTO-membership. They all produced a remarkable album, somewhere between Jazz, Rock and World Music. Christian Erber with a presentation of Dialogue….

            Excerpt 1 from “Village”

Listening  to the music of Steve Weingart often creates the same effect. When closing one’s eyes,  the brain tries to conjure  up certain images, sometimes even whole scenes. The opening  track “Village” for example might create the picture of children playing and messing around in a village somewhere in the world. No wonder, says Weingart, who gets inspiration for his songs during his journeys across the world.
           
            Excerpt 2 from “Village“
 
Weingart considers himself a musical nomad, an anti-purist. The pure Jazz – postulated by artists like Wynton Marsalis – is not really his cup of tea:  
 

Weingart: “I don’t believe that staying pure allows for growth. If someone says that Mozart or Bach are just the only way how music should be- that would be very limiting. I like to explore, I like to hear other kinds of music. I like other styles of music better than some others, but I appreciate the art of music. It crosses age, it crosses gender, it crosses cultures, it crosses geographic regions. If I was pure and I stayed only to classical music, than that influence wouldn’t have shown itself in this music.”

Weingart mentions several musical influences. Classical composers like Bach, Ravel, Soulbands like Earth, Wind & Fire, and  Jazz-Rock icons like  Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul and Chick Corea. A musical mélange that creates tracks like “Restless”. A song about the Zeitgeist, says Weingart.  In the age of internet and globalization more and more people are restless, driven by fears:
 
Excerpt from “Restless”
 
Some musicians, Weingart recorded the album with, have already been involved in his prior albums. His wife, bass-player, Renee Jones, guitarist Mike Miller and saxophone-player Katisse Buckingham. But there are some well-known guests as well giving their kind of contribution to the album, like Steve Lukather, guitarist from TOTO and drummer Simon Phillips, who co-produced the album. The drum veteran says, he was greatly impressed by Weingarts musical abilities:
 
 
Phillips: “First of all, time is very important. Time and groove. But also it’s basically catching the vibe of the song thus being played and making it their own. A lot of people play the song, which is absolutely right, but sometimes you need a little bit more, especially in Jazz and Fusion. And Steve just makes it kind of his own, he owns it. That is really cool, I love it. I love the ways he solos, I love the way he voices. He’s a wonderful writer and that’s actually attracted me to doing his project.”

Excerpt 1 from “Tell Tales”
 
But Weingart is far from being the kind of “fishing for compliments” guy. Although he has been touring with well known musicians like Steve Lukather, Bill Evans, Robben Ford or Randy Brecker lately, Weingart –  the guy from Dayton/Ohio – prefers humbleness. When asked about the most beautiful and important experience during the last months, Weingart mentions the cooperation with his wife Renee.  Without her, ballads like “Tell Tales” wouldn’t have evolved:
 
Weingart: “She mostly wrote the song. She wrote the melody and the bass-line. Ans she said: “Here it is, do something to it!” So she kind of gave me the body of the song and I came in and added spices. I think I added a bridge to it For the most part that was the collaboration with that song. And with the title track “Dialogue” we kind of just did that together. We worked at the computer simultaneously. It’s kind of weird to try to remember how it went, because when we were doing it, it was just happening.”

Excerpt 2 from “Tell Tales”

With “Dialogue” Steve Weingart and Renee Jones created a remarkable album. It is full of musical ideas and fancies. The listener will come across African rhythms as well as music from the Far and Middle East. Stylistically, “Dialogue” is a mixture of Jazz, World, Rock Funk and Folk – making it a very tasty musical stew. But there is one thing that all tracks have in common: a very warm color of sound. Something, that Weingart’s big idol, Vienna Keyboarder Joe Zawinul, was famous for. Weingart is only 45 years old. Enough time for him left, to follow the footsteps of his idol.”

Thank you Christian!
Please feel free to check out samples of the album “Dialogue” in the ‘store’ section. You can find the link to the store at the top of this page.
Until next time, be well, and enjoy!

I have a new update to share regarding my new album with Renee, ‘Dialogue’. It’s been made available on amazon.com. Please visit the ‘store’ section (found in the menu bar above) to see more details.

The time for going on tour (with Steve Lukather) is drawing near, and Renee and I are looking forward to traveling and seeing some new and some familiar sights in Europe. We’re also looking forward to meeting up with Luke and Eric (Valentine). It’s been a while since we’ve all seen each other, and it will be fun to share the stage again! We’ll be visiting Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, and a new destination for Renee and I, Reunion Island. You’ll find more info about the tour by clicking on the blue/grey dates on the calendar to the right.

Tomorrow (7/16/11) is an exciting day for me. I’m going to the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California (a suburb of L.A.) to participate in the Richard Petty Driving School. Over the last few years, I’ve become more and more interested in auto racing, more specifically in NASCAR racing. I’ve attended the driving school in the past, and am really looking forward to another fun experience. I’m charging the video camera as I type, so hopefully soon I’ll be posting some video of this event!

Renee and I, along with a friend, attended a screening of “The Wrecking Crew”. It’s a really interesting look at the beginnings and history of the Los Angeles Recording Session scene. It’s directed by Denny Tedesco, son of legendary L.A. session guitarist, Tommy Tedesco. At the screening we attended, Don Randy, keyboardist, and “Wrecking Crew” member was on hand to tell stories and answer questions. I’ve known Don for years, and didn’t know the depth of his participation in our music history. It was truly an honor to hang with him and hear the history directly from one of the guys that helped create it! Check out www.wreckingcrewfilm.com for more info and upcoming screening locations.

Thank you to all who have passed on such generous and positive feedback on our new album, “Dialogue”. Renee and I are doing what we can to promote our album, so we really appreciate our friends and music lovers spreading the word! We are really looking forward to the day when we bring the album live to the stage!

Thanks for sharing your time here. See ya soon!

Just today, I updated the calendar you can see just to the right. You’ll notice some of the dates are filled in with a grey color. Simply float your mouse over the dates for a small description, or click on the date for more info. For the moment, I’ve updated info for the upcoming tour in July/August with Steve Lukather. The band will be myself, Renee, and Eric Valentine on drums. We’re all looking forward to getting back on tour with Luke and seeing our European friends again!

In music news, our ‘Dialogue’ album seems to be reaching a lot of digital distribution points. The album is available (that I’m aware of) in iTunes, Amazon.com, and Napster.com. I believe it will spread to other distribution points as those companies get the album uploaded to their sites. More news will follow on it’s availability.

Renee and I are really honored and happy to receive positive reviews and reactions from our friends and associates. We are planning a ‘physical CD’ release of ‘Dialogue’. We’ve had our own discussions about the ever changing technology and music business. To be honest, we are both in favor of having a CD to hold in our hands. I may be showing my age a little bit, but I remember in my younger years looking at album covers (yes, vinyl!), reading liner notes, and being inspired by the vision of the artists -both musically and visually. We have completed artwork (thanks to the talents of Steven Parke), credits and song info ready for manufacturing. At this point in time we are considering the best way to go about printing CDs. I will keep you updated with the latest info on this subject. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out ‘Dialogue’ audio clips in the ‘Store’ section (in the menu bar above) if you haven’t heard it yet!

As for our domestic news, Renee and I celebrated finishing up our home improvement projects and the 4th of July Holiday over this past weekend. Renee and I are normally up for the challenge of doing work like this ourselves. In this case, it was a tough job! We didn’t expect it to be quite the experience it turned out to be, so this may have been the last major building project we undertake ourselves! We did have the house painted by a local company, who did a wonderful job. We are really pleased with everything, and really happy to be back to playing music!

Thats all for now… see you soon!