Mort Weiss was a jazz

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

player. On his first album as leader he performed with

Joey DeFrancesco Joey DeFrancesco (April 10, 1971August 25, 2022) was an American jazz organist, trumpeter, saxophonist, and occasional singer. He released more than 30 albums under his own name, and recorded extensively as a sideman with such leading jazz perfo ...

on the

Hammond B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

, featured also on his second album ''B3 and Me'' (recorded in 2003 but not released until 2006). According to

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

, "Clarinet-organ groups are far from common. In fact, prior to Mort Weiss' debut CD with organist Joey DeFrancesco, it is possible that combination had never been utilized before." Weiss has performed with

Bill Cunliffe William Henry Cunliffe Jr. (born June 26, 1956) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Early life Cunliffe was born in Andover, Massachusetts. He discovered music at an early age, with particular emphasis on classical music as well as jazz ...

Sam Most Samuel Most (December 16, 1930 – June 13, 2013) was an American jazz flutist, clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, based in Los Angeles. He was "probably the first great jazz flutist", according to jazz historian Leonard Feather. Biography He wa ...

, Ramon Banda,

Dave Carpenter Dave Carpenter (November 4, 1959 – June 24, 2008) was an American bass player. During his early professional career he played with jazz musicians Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson and Woody Herman. During the late 1990s he was a touring member of ...

Roy McCurdy Roy McCurdy (born November 28, 1936) is a jazz drummer. Early life McCurdy began playing drums around the age of 10 in his hometown of Rochester and took lessons from Eastman percussionist Bill Street as a teenager. He spent three years in the A ...

, and Luther Hughes and has written essays for the website

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

. Weiss died October 13, 2021, in Woodbridge, Virginia, and is survived by his son Michael H Weiss. Cause of death was a combination of MRSA and heart failure.

Career

Weiss began clarinet lessons when he was nine years old. After moving with his family to Los Angeles, he continued playing classical music. During his teens he studied with clarinetist Antonio Remondi of the

Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

. After graduation and a year at the Westlake School of Music, the teenage Weiss soloed on T.V. programs with the Freddie Martin Orchestra, a.k.a. The Band of Tomorrow. Weiss' exposure to jazz began with

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

. But when he heard a

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

record, he was hooked. He frequented jazz clubs, participating in after-hours

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ...

s, and spending many hours in the woodshed honing his craft. Clarinetist

Buddy DeFranco Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco (February 17, 1923 – December 24, 2014) was an American jazz clarinetist. In addition to his work as a bandleader, DeFranco led the Glenn Miller Orchestra for almost a decade in the 1960s and 1970s. ...

became his idol. At the age of 19, Weiss was drafted into the Armed Services and played tenor saxophone in the Army band. In the ten years following his discharge, there was a dearth of work for jazz clarinetists and the tenor saxophone became his bread and butter. Weiss' life became lounges, minor jazz clubs, and work in R&B bands. In the summer of 2001, Weiss read an advertising flyer that asked "Do You Want to Play Jazz?" It was enough to make him begin practicing and invite guitarist Ron Eschete to jam. Their collaboration led to a recording session that became ''No Place to Hide'', the first album on Weiss's label SMS Jazz.

Discography

* ''No Place to Hide'' (SMS Jazz, 2002) * ''Mort Weiss Meets Joey Defrancesco'' (SMS Jazz, 2002) * ''The Mort Weiss Quartet'' (SMS Jazz, 2002) * ''The Four of Us: Live at Steamers'' (SMS Jazz, 2005) * ''All Too Soon'' (SMS Jazz, 2008) * ''Raising the Bar'' (SMS Jazz, 2009) * ''I'll Be Seeing You'' (SMS Jazz, 2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Mort Living people 21st-century clarinetists Bebop clarinetists American jazz clarinetists American jazz bandleaders 1935 births