Aaron Weinstein: Jazz Mandolinist, Violinist, Arranger and Writer

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

03/10/23

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90m

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My guest today is the phenomenal jazz violinist, mandolinist, arranger, and writer Aaron Weinstein. Aaron is a self-taught violinist and attended the renowned Berklee College on a 4 year talent based scholarship. As a young man he performed and recorded with many jazz legends. In this episode we talked about some of these mentors, including Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Les Paul, and this interview is full of Aaron’s stories and insights as a performer and educator. He has generously agreed to let me use two of his previously released self-produced videos so you can hear some of his playing. I first discovered Aaron in his comedy series with Linda Lavin; I encourage you to check it out along with his other projects and albums: http://www.aaronweinstein.net/

All my episodes are also a video and the transcript is at the same link: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/aaron-weinstein

Buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:41) Aaron’s start on old-time fiddle (03:16) Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli (06:50) Mel Bay books Swingin’ Jazz Fiddle Solos and Mandolin Chord Melody System (09:28) Aaron Weinstein plays Avalon, both violin and mandolin (11:05) Don Stiernberg (12:27) “Give Me the Simple Life” Aaron Weinstein on mandolin (13:56) difference between jazz mandolin and jazz violin (17:18) Album 3x3 on Chesky label (18:21) Berklee College of Muisic, Sandy Kott first formal violin lessons (23:32)Les Paul (25:05) playing with jazz legends as a young man, learning the tunes, Annie Ross (27:46) lyrics, Sondheim, Andy Zerman (30:35) working with Broadway singers and appreciating different genres (33:59) self-criticism, dealing with different performance realities (36:15) Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Johnny Frigo (38:54) Linda Lavin, Irvin Arthur (45:12) agents, jazz in the music business (46:59) mandolin, violin, guitar, Hamilton de Holanda (49:11) teaching jazz (56:03) giving and getting feedback (59:04) getting established in New York, support from John Pizzarelli (01:01:26) arranging, practicing classical music, interpretation and originality (01:06:43) writing (01:13:54) advice for younger players, problems with social media (01:20:19) how to practice, improvisation (01:26:05) Les Paul story (01:28:00) missing the opportunity to hear Stéphane Grappelli

Previous Episode

Gina Burgess Catch-Up Bonus!

March 4, 2023

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27m

Welcome to a special Catch-Up bonus episode with violinist Gina Burgess. My original episode with her is linked here, as well as the podcast versions of both, with transcripts: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e18-s1-gina-burgess-multi-style-violinist If you missed my first conversation with Gina, you’ll be interested to hear her fascinating personal story and how she became so connected with the North.

Gina has had a really interesting year, going back to university in Newfoundland, moving to the far north of Canada in Iqaluit, and releasing her first album as bandleader. We talked about Inuit throatsinging, and have included two excerpts from the album which I encourage you to check out on Bandcamp: https://ginaburgessmusic.bandcamp.com/album/isnow

Please help me keep this podcast going! https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:24) music education at Memorial University in Newfoundland

(03:56) touring life cut short by pandemic and pivoting to teaching

(04:59) placement in Iqaluit

(07:40) Inuit throat singing, Cynthia Pitsiulak

(09:32) intro to Anuri

(12:06) clip from Anuri on ISNOW album

(14:34) album release in Iqaluit with drum dancers, Olivia Chislett throat singer

(16:17) album ISNOW

(17:38) Ravens on the Roof intro

(19:50) clip from Ravens on the Roof

(20:34) crafting, sober jam

(22:09) teaching

(23:22) teaching teenagers, the importance of knowing them

(24:48) playing in hospital

Next Episode

Matt Zimbel

March 18, 2023

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96m

Matt Zimbel is a percussionist with the band Manteca, and also an award-winning writer, producer, documentary filmmaker, artistic director, broadcast executive and radio and tv host. In this fascinating episode he shares his insights gained from a wealth of experience across the music industry. We speak near the beginning about his father the photographer George Zimbel, who died this past January 2023, after we recorded the episode. We talk about the beautiful documentary film, “Zimbelism” that Matt made with director Jean-Francois Gratton. Matt offered that the trailer for Zimbelism, which features the music of Manteca, could be used in this episode. He has also generously let me weave in a pre-release of a fantastic new percussion piece with Art Avalos which will appear on Manteca’s upcoming Offspring Project.

The video version of this episode, with the transcript is here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/mattzimbel

Matt Zimbel website: http://mattzimbel.com/ Manteca: https://manteca-music.com/ Busking in Deadwood video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBtrn8Mob5s Manteca albums on Bandcamp: https://mantecamusic.bandcamp.com/music

Buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:30) early influences: Osibisa, jazz on CBC radio

(05:38) dropping out of school at 14, percussion studies Jim Farety, Dido Morris, John Ruddell, Armando’s Orchestra, forming Manteca

(08:30) intro Hit Record percussion piece with Art Avalos pre-release for Manteca’s The Offspring Project

(09:20) Hit Record

(10:31) learning percussion, playing diferent styles, recording disco

(12:30) early influences: Eddie Harris

(13:11) creating the film Zimbelism