Florian Weber

Florian Weber (born November 20, 1977 in Detmold) is a German pianist and composer of modern jazz.

Biography

Florian Weber is the son of music professor Rainer Weber, and opera singer Elke Weber. At the age of four, Florian began taking private lessons and by the time he graduated from high school, he had participated in both classical and jazz ensembles, winning 1st place competition prizes, and had the opportunity to tour as a soloist with various philharmonic orchestras.^[1]

In 1999, Florian got a scholarship to continue at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Later he began to study with John Taylor in Cologne, Germany, Joanne Brackeen and Paul Bley in Boston and Richie Beirach and Lee Konitz in New York.^[2]

Since 2001, Florian won the Steinway & Sons prize at the Montreaux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition, the Gotrian Steinweg prize of Weimar, the 1. Prize at the Jazzcompetition Monaco and the German critics award. He performed or recorded e.g. with Eddy Henderson and Lee Konitz. (The album was rewarded with the Choc de l´Anne, Jazzman magazine), Pat Metheny, Ralph Alessi, Lionel Loueke, Dan Weiss, Thomas Morgan, Markus Stockhausen, Thomasz Stanko, Albert Mangelsdorff, and Benny Bailey. Florian was the first German piano player to record live at the Village Vanguard.

Together with the US bass player Jeff Denson and Israeli drummer Ziv Ravitz Florian Weber founded the Trio Minsarah in 2002. „A Minsarah (Hebrew for prism) bundles light to a multi-coloured spectrum. Weber, Denson and Ravitz simply reverse this process, send Swing, Bebop, Bartok, Bach, Funk, Rock, African, Oriental, Chorales, Repetitions, Bitonality and free play exactly into the opposite and though create a totally new and brilliant style.“^[3] In 2006 Weber released Weber with mit Minsarah the first CD of the same name. The CD was awarded with the „Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik“ ("German Record Critics' Award").^[4]

In Cologne, Saxplayer Lee Konitz starts to work with the Trio Minsarah (2006) and with these three musicians he found „partner that possess enough obstinacy and substance to put him under such tension that they became his ‘New Quartet’.“^[5] The four start to tour mainly in the U.S. and record the first CD ‘Deep Lee’ at the Systems Two Studio in Brooklyn. The recordings to ‚Blurring the lines‘ followed before Weber plays together with the Lee Konitz New Quartet 2010 as first German pianist at the New York Village Vanguard. The concert was recorded live and released as Lee Konitz New Quartet – Live @ the Village Vanguard^[6] a year later. The CD receives the „Choc de l´Annee“ by the French magazine Jazzman.

Almost at the same time and together with Lionel Loueke (guitar), Thomas Morgan (bass) und Dan Weiss (drums) Weber founded the formation Biosphere. Their aim being that "both the acoustic and electric piano should be highlighted. Next, the group members determined that North and West African rhythms should have a distinct impact without ever sacrificing the modern jazz character of the band. Weber, Morgan, Denson and Loueke have also chosen to integrate mathematical relationships (another pillar of Weber’s cosmos) and the constructive principles of the fugue theory, not as gimmicks but as functional components of the overall picture. And finally, all agreed that the music should be fun and, ideally, work towards transporting the listener”.^[7] In 2011 the trio records its first CD ‘Biosphere’. “Biosphere has developed into one of the most gripping, casually complex albums of the jazz spring of 2012. The composition “Piecemeal”, for example, is in 27/16 meter and dedicated to quantum physics, linking the smallest motivic elements to strict principles with patterns like prime number rows and contrapuntal contrasts and then yoking the whole thing to a structural perception that is African. There are also reinterpretations of melodies that are well-known from the world of popular music, like “Clocks” by Coldplay and “Cosmic” by Jamiroquai.^[8]

With his own groups and other projects Weber toured in America, all over Europe, Asia, South America and Japan at some of the most important festivals and venues like Paris JVC festival, Berlin Jazzfestival, Jazz festival Montreal, Kennedy Center NY etc. and played with numerous philharmonic orchestras performing piano concertos e.g. by Mozart, Ravel, Gershwin and Piazolla as well as contemporary composers. In 2015 he toured and recorded again with Lee Konitz in Europe and the USA.

Today Florian lives in Cologne, Germany and part of the year in New York being part of the immensely lively scene of this city leading to his latest project „Biosphere“ which was released September 2012 on enja records.

In 2013 Weber was awarded the Echo Jazz as best instrumentalist of the year national ^[9](Piano/Keyboard). in January 2014, the WDR Jazz Prize for "Jazz Improvisation" followed.^[10]

References