Although he was born in Brooklyn, New York, the African drums beat in Randy Weston's heart. Being a child of African parentage he was brought up with the thought that he would eventually visit the true motherland and later on in his jazz career he strengthened the ties with African culture and its ancient rhythms. Last year the pianist and his African Rhythms Trio released the album Zep Tepi, thus putting an exclamation mark behind his 80th birthday. On his first trio album in years he explores a selection of his most significant pieces in an almost spiritual way. The Thelonious Monk influenced Weston played a major role in jazz as a soloist, dynamic band leader and gifted composer. He played with jazz greats including Cannonball Adderley, Betty Carter, Eric Dolphy, Lionel Hampton and Ahmad Jamal, released several beautiful albums on, for instance, the Verve label and was twice elected 'composer of the year' by DownBeat Magazine.
