[Dixielandjazz] Jon Weber interviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Former Chicago Piano Whiz Jon Weber Gets His Big Break -- on Radio
by Howard Reich
Chicago Tribune, November 9, 2011
Until a few years ago, you could hear the great Chicago jazz pianist Jon Weber simply
by strolling to the Four Seasons Hotel on East Delaware Place, riding an elevator
up to the lounge and pulling up a chair.
Come January, listeners across America -- and beyond -- will be hearing Weber in
a decidedly more high-profile context, for he'll host a retooled version of the longest-running
jazz show on National Public Radio, "Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz."
The program will be retitled "Piano Jazz Rising Stars," but just like McPartland
before him, Weber will duet with his guests as well as interview them.
It's hard to imagine a better choice for this plum assignment than Weber, considering
his rare combination of gifts: brilliant technique, photographic memory, enormous
repertory of songs and the ability to read perfectly at sight virtually any score
placed before him.
Yet for all his talents, Weber seems startled by the good fortune that has just come
his way.
"Marian anointed me and NPR chose me for God knows why," says Weber, who moved to
New York five years ago.
"Nobody is more surprised than me. I figure I've got some big Size 12s to fill."
Yes, McPartland -- who's 93 and will step away from the microphone to serve as the
program's artistic director -- built a large international following since she began
hosting the show in 1979. Her fluid pianism and engaging interviewing style, more
than anything else, has made "Piano Jazz" a singular institution in American music.
McPartland, like Weber, holds deep ties to Chicago. Her late husband, cornetist Jimmy
McPartland, was a key figure in the Austin High Gang of the 1920s, a coalition of
white, West Side musicians inspired by the black and Creole New Orleans jazz players
who had migrated to Chicago.
So perhaps it was quite natural that McPartland would turn to Weber a couple of years
ago, when she needed someone to fill in for her in interviewing vocalist Sheila Jordan.
"I just downloaded a bunch of Sheila Jordan's music to listen to, and I learned all
of her material, which is extensive," says Weber, who famously can devour repertoire
in a fraction of the time it takes lesser mortals.
"And I pulled it off some how, some way... and I have no idea why. It's like shooting
darts in the dark."
To date, Weber has guest-hosted a couple dozen episodes of "Piano Jazz," but others
have had their shot, too, among them Bill Charlap, John Pizzarelli and Elvis Costello.
That Weber should have emerged as the final choice says a great deal not only about
NPR's high regard for the program but how much Weber brings to it.
"He was hand-picked by Marian to be the host," says Shari Hutchinson, longtime producer
of the program (McPartland was unavailable for comment).
"Jon brings an encyclopedic knowledge of jazz history to the program, as well as
his incredible playing chops. I think that he and Marian share an ability to play
in so many different styles and to make an artist feel comfortable -- to subjugate
your own personality so you can bring out the best in the guest."
The program is being retooled to focus on "Rising Stars" of jazz "to give them a
forum," adds Hutchinson. "I talked to a variety of public-radio station directors,
especially those who have jazz as a major focus, and that seemed to be something
that they felt was missing: something new and interesting.
"While honoring the tradition of 'Piano Jazz,' we wanted to start covering some new
ground."
Weber has taped 13 shows that will become available for broadcast on Jan. 3. Among
the first guests: Chicago vocal phenomenon Tammy McCann. In Chicago, the show has
been broadcast on WFMT 98.7 FM; it will be a while before we know where Weber's "Piano
Jazz Rising Stars" will air locally and across the country.
But if Weber's version proves as successful as McPartland's, which was picked up
by more than 225 stations in the U.S. alone, he finally will become the national
figure he long has deserved to be.
Says Hutchinson, "I can't think of a better ambassador for the music."
Neither can I.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

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