Loading ...
He may be only 24, but Aaron Weinstein’s swinging jazz violin brings back an era: the 1930s, when New Yorkers packed smoky nightclubs to hear giants like Joe Venuti.
Not bad for a kid who got his break at 15, when his mom drove him to the post office in suburban Chicago to mail a demo to jazz-guitar greats Bucky and John Pizzarelli. Father and son flipped when they heard Weinstein’s sound. He has since recorded and toured with them both, has his own trio and is a rising star in the world of jazz violin. He plays the Algonquin’s Oak Room Saturday.
Violinist Aaron Weinstein during 'Cast Party' at Birdland Jazz Club. He plays about 125 gigs a year.
You picked up the violin at age 8. How did you learn to play?
I was primarily self-taught until I went to Berklee College of Music in Boston. But most of the profound musical lessons I’ve learned have been on the bandstand — what to do, and more importantly what not to do.
How many gigs did you do in 2009?
Between concerts, recording sessions and arranging work, about 125. That’s enough work to keep my landlord happy, but I know musicians who work two and three times that much.
What is your favorite music to play?
The American Songbook. Guys like Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers.
Who would you love to perform with?
Many of the people I would like to have known passed away before I was alive. That’s one of the side effects of my taste running 60 years behind the time. But if I were able to wake the dead for a little dinner party, the guest list would include Joe Venuti, Truman Capote, Oscar Levant, Jack Benny, Dorothy Parker, Zoot Sims.
Anyone alive?
I would be beyond thrilled to work with Tony Bennett or Michael Feinstein.
Birdland impresario Jim Caruso says what sets you apart is not just your gifts, but your grasp of entertainment. He calls your act “a little bit vaudeville, a touch borscht belt.” What’s up with the shtick?
Anything I can do to help people open up their ears a little bit, to accept this music, I am all for it. If I can make someone laugh, to make them more comfortable, I’ll do that. I realize people are coming to be entertained. That’s how jazz was presented in the 1930s.
Is there any other job you could picture yourself doing if you weren’t playing the jazz violin?
No. To quote cornetist Warren Vaché, “Doing anything in music is better than actually working for a living.”