Making the Rounds with Russ

at the Dutch Treat Club

at the Dutch Treat Club

 

Jon with Edith Drake

Jon with Edith Drake

Dutch Treat Club has begun its 110th season at 3 West in Manhattan. The “invitation only” club of letters has distinguished itself by attracting artists of all venues. The weekly luncheon format began it’s winter/spring season with a guest speaker and an entertainment – guest speaker, Gerri Chanel, a prize-winning freelance journalist and a professor at the City University of New York discussed her new book, “Saving Mona Lisa: The Battle to Protect the Louvre and its Treasures during World War II.”

The season’s entertainment began with fellow member, Jon Weber. Quoting NY Times film and music critic Stephen Holden, “ Jon Weber, … who has hosted the NPR series “Piano Jazz” and is one of the most imaginative and gifted cabaret musical directors, has a deep understanding of how technology and the media have revolutionized the relationship between the musician and the audience.” Jon provided the membership, and their guests, with his mastery and vast knowledge of jazz and the piano.

at the Metropolitan Room

at the Metropolitan Room

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Later that evening Jon’s show “From Joplin to Jarrett: 115 Years of Piano Jazz” was featured at the Metropolitan Room where Weber captivated his audience with unlimited knowledge how “Scott Joplin begat Jelly Roll Morton, who begat James P. Johnson, who begat Fats Waller, who begat Earl Hines,” (Stephen Holden, NY Times) and on and on. That is a rough sketch of the jazz piano genealogy described by Jon Weber in his fascinating and essential show. From an academic perspective,” says Holden, “this program is an enlightening music history tutorial, delivered with enthusiasm and wit by a musician with no axes to grind and who is utterly devoid of professorial grandiosity. But because he can lay up a storm, it is also a thrilling demonstration of one man’s passionate attachment to his chosen instrument.”

10714150_10152934266242527_4274523836357459965_oHolden was right on the money. Jon is a wealth of knowledge and a wizard at conjuring up the sounds and excitement of the jazz piano.

Nobody knows jazz like Jon Weber!

 

 

 

Photos/Video: Russ Weatherford