Weiskopf Joel
Weiskopf Joel
jazz pianist, brother of Walt Weiskopf; b. Syracuse, N.Y., March 31,1962. At age four he started playing piano by ear. He studied formally until 17 when he won top honors at the N.Y., Scholastic Music Association Classical Piano Competition. After high school he attended the New England Cons. of Music in Boston, Mass. He was soon chosen as a member of the New England Cons. Honors Jazz Quintet, which toured throughout the greater Boston area. In 1985 he graduated with “Distinction in Performance” and moved to N.Y.C. Soon thereafter he got the call to join Woody Herman. He played, composed, and arranged for Herman’s band for one year and left the band shortly berfore Herman’s death in 1987. Weiskopf then moved back to N.Y.C. In 1989 he won first place in the Great American Jazz Piano Competition. Since then he has worked with Gerry Mulligan, Hubert Laws, Clark Terry, Mel Lewis, Quincy Jones, the Buddy Rich Band, Joe Lovano, Dakota Staton, and Julius Hemphill as well as with L. Subramanium, and Salamat Ali Khan. He has also recorded with Larry Coryell, Tom Harrell, Jimmy Cobb, Billy Hart, Richard Stoltzman, Shunzu Ono, Charli Persip, and his brother Walt Weiskopf. He performs throughout the N.Y area with his trio and quintet.
Discography
Walt Weiskopf: Night Lights (1995); Songs for My Mother (1997); Search (1999).
—Lewis Porter