Composer/pianist Ezra Weiss is “a bold, inspired figure in the contemporary jazz arranging scene.” (DownBeat) He has released seven albums as a bandleader: The Five A.M. Strut (2003), Persephone (2005), Get Happy (2007), The Shirley Horn Suite (2010), Our Path To This Moment (2012), Before You Know It [Live in Portland] (2014), and We Limit Not the Truth of God (2019). All of these albums have received substantial national and international acclaim from the press, and have spent significant time on the JazzWeek Radio Charts.
Additionally, Ezra composed the music for the Portland Jazz Composer’s Ensemble’s multimedia concert and recording, From Maxville To Vanport (2018). He also wrote the big band arrangements for Derek Hines’ recording The Long Journey Home (2017), which led to the formation of the Ezra Weiss Big Band.
Ezra currently leads his own big band and sextet, performing at major jazz festivals and clubs throughout the U.S., including the Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles, the Triple Door in Seattle, and numerous week-long engagements at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club in New York City.
His bands have featured such luminaries as saxophonists Antonio Hart, Mark Gross, and Dayna Stephens; trumpeters Michael Philip Mossman, Greg Gisbert, and Farnell Newton; bassists Corcoran Holt, Ameen Saleem, and Curtis Lundy; and drummers Kassa Overall, Steve Williams, and Billy Hart (for whom Ezra also served as arranger), among others. He also co-led the Courtney Bryan/Ezra Weiss Jazz Orchestra in New York City.
Ezra’s compositions and arrangements have been recorded by numerous artists, including Jeff Baker, Stan Bock, Renato Caranto, Derek Hines, Kitchener-Waterloo Big Band Theory, The Leaders, Thara Memory, Farnell Newton, Northwest Children’s Theater, Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, Sammi, Marcos Varela, and Angie Wells, among others. He has also co-produced recordings for many artists and labels, and his own albums as a leader have been released on the Origin, PJCE, and Umoja record labels.
In musical theatre, Ezra has written music and lyrics to Alice in Wonderland: a Jazz Musical, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, and Cinderella: the New Tap Musical. Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella were each named in the Top 10 Cast Albums of 2009 and 2013 respectively by TalkinBroadway.com. Ezra also recently created and produced the online musical revue Is Everybody Here?, and is currently composing the music to The Golem’s Gift.
Ezra has won the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award three times and has been listed in DownBeat Critics Polls in the Rising Star Arranger category. He holds a Bachelors in Jazz Composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Masters in Jazz Piano Performance from Queens College. His teachers have included Wendell Logan, Neal Creque, and Bruce Barth. He has taught at numerous colleges and universities in Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife and two kids.
