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TIMWEISBERG'S
z k e y b o a r d s c, a m e t o p a s s i n t h e b e g i n n i n go f 1 9 6 9 .
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a July 26, 1969.Phone call.
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eisberg.
haveid ea sof certa inc olor st hat lwant and s o I t r y , ev e ni f I d o n 't
actuallywrite the notes,to act as a directorof sorts; gettingthat
thoug hta cro ss a nd s t im ulat ingone of t he ot her guy s . "
The reare fe w flutis t sf r ont ingr oc k gr oups .Cer t ainly t, h e m o s t
emin en o t f th esewo uld be lan Ander s onof J et hr oTull.B u t A n d e r -
son,by h is o wn ad m is s ion,is not a t r ainedf lut e play era n d r e l i e s
on th e instrume nt as a s t age pr op. W it hTim W eis ber g,t h e m a n i s
the pro p as he displa y spur e v ir t uos it yon ev er y t une.H i s b o d y i s
an e xte nsiono f h is ins t r um ent - bobbingand weav in g w i t h t h e
mu sic, mold ingthe not es ,as a s c ulpt orm olds c lay . He h o l d s h i s
audien cein a tra nce- lik es t at e,c om plet elyat his m er c yu n t i lh e i s
ready to let them loose.
The music is midway between rock and jazz. lt brings to the
surface jazz-orientedforms which comfortably fit into the rock
genre .But the mu si c does n' twelc om e c at egor iz at io ni ;n f a c t , i f
defie s it.
"Wh en lfirst go t i nt o m us ic , "r ec alls Tim , "l play ed c l a s s i c a l
f lute .Na tura lly,th e people y ou init iallylook t o f or im p r o v i s a t i o n
areiazz musicians.But I got turnedoff by the avant-gardethings
ver y q uickly.The w hole s t r uc t ur e,at leas t t hat par t o f i t l h a v e
come in contact with, is a productof a lot of very closed-minded
people:not open to new ideas,very condescendingbecause of
t he ir 'g rea t,in cre dib let alent s 'and ev er y t hing.
"The way I got it togetherwas by meetingFred Katz at Califor-
nia State Un ive rsityat Nor t hr idge. "
Tim was ma jorin gin ant hr opologyat t he t im e.Kat z ,t h e f o r m e r
cellist-pia nistwith C hic o Ham ilt on,was t eac hing a c o u r s e i n
E thn o-Mu sico log y.
"l we nt u p to him o ne day and ls aid, ' M r . Kat z( it t ook m e a y e a r
befo re lcalle d him F r ed)do y ou t hink lc an im pr ov is e ? '
"l me an ,yo u d on 't pic k up Rubank ' sElem ent ar yFlu t e M e t h o d
and use that for improvisation.To sit someonedown and say,
' Liste nan d pla y-we ll, t hat ' sr eallyf r us t r at ing.
I had neve rh a d t h e
oppo rtun ityto p lay ens em blem us ic lik e t hat .M y ens e m b l ep l a y -
ing wa s cla ssica lmus ic .
"The first time lpla y ed wit h Fr ed was t hr ee week s a f t e r l h a d
firs t aske d h im a bo ut im pr ov is ing. Fr edt old f f i€, ' l' mpla y i n ga t a n
art exhibit with Buddy Colette and an African drummerand I'm
going to pla y so me piano and c ello. But Buddy ' s g o t t a d o a
record sessionso he's gonnabe late. Bring your flute and come
and p lay.'
"So I g ot my flu te and t he nex t t hing I k now, I ' m im pr o v i s i n ga t
t his a rt g alle ryfo r th r ee hour swit h a c ouple of m us ici a n sc: e l l o , '
f lute,a nd co ng o d rum s .lm ean, y ou' v e got t o wor k har d ! "
After about six or seven monthsof just playing around,Fred
said , "Le t's d o a co nc er t . "
Tim, Fred,a studentbassist,and a drummer:two free concerts
at noon at the college.Nobody showedup. Eightpeople in a 4OO
seata ud itoriu m...
Tim ad ds h is o wn c olor : "l was c om plet elybum m edo u t . "
But Fred Katz went to see the Capital AssociatedMen's Stu-
dents and said that if they would sponsor a "paid" concert, he
wo uld g et a gu est ar t is tt o join t he gr oup.
"Now, I had been improvisingfor only about a year," Tim ex-
plains"and Fred goes and gets PaulHorn.I almostpassedout. Of
. all the flute players,there is somethingabout the way Paul Horn
playsthat makeshimmy favorite.I mean,manyexcell in one area.
But, I don't know what you'd call it, vibrations,feeling-there's
somethingspecial about the way he plays."
By BiceAger
I hat concert led to a series of phone calls that turned Tim
Weisberg'scareer on its head.
July, 1968.Phone call.
" T i m ,t h i s i s P a u l H o r n .I 'm g o i n g t o p u t a f l u t e g r ou p to g e th e r .
l 'd l i k e y o u t o b e i n i t . "
T o d i s g u i s eh i s h e a r t c l i m b i n gr a p i d l y t o w a r d h i s th r o a t,Ti m
g a s p e d ," l g o t t a c h e c k m y b o o k . l m i g h t h a v e t o do so m e Ba r
M itzvahs."
T h e g r o u p , c o m p r i s i n gt h r e e f l u t e s ,a s w e i l a s Ho r n o n sa x,
c l a r i n e ta n d f l u t e ,a n d a r h y t h ms e c t i o no f g u i t a r ,d r u m s,b a ss,a n d
" C a n n o n b a lAl d d e r l e yi s g o i n g t o b e p l a y i n gw i t h an e n se m b l e
at Montereyand they need a bass flute. can you do it?"
T i m g r u n t e do u t a d i s t i n c t i v em e s s a g et o t h e a f fi r m a ti vew h i l e
t r y i n gd e s p e r a t e l yt o o v e r c o m eh i s i m p e n d i n gc a r d i a ca r r e st.Bu t
b y t h e t i m e o f t h e f e s t i v a l ,h e h a d s u f f i c i e n t l yr e c o ve r e dto l e t
M o n t e r e yo f f i c i a l sk n o w h e h a d a g r o u p o f h i s o w n . S a ys Ti m : "l
t h e n p r o c e e d e dt o d i r e c t m y c a r e e r i n t h i s d i r e c t i o n ."
1970.Phonecall.
" D o y o u w a n t t o o p e n t h e 1 9 7 0M o n t e r e yJ a z z F esti va r ? "
T h a tf i r s t e v e n i n gi t w a s T i m We i s b e r gf,o l l o w e db y th e M o d e r n
J a z z Q u a r t e t ,a n d t h e n D u k e E l l i n g t o n .
'
T i m r e c a l l s ," l g o t u p t h e r ei n f r o n to f 1 o , o o op e o p lea n d fo r th e
f i r s t 1 0 m i n u t e sa l l l c o u l d t h i n k o f w a s h o w n e w l w a s to i m -
p r o v i s a t i o nI. k e p t s a y i n gt o m y s e l f: 'Wh a ta m I d o i n g '? "
T h a t a r e v i e w e ro r t h r e e s h o w e d u p ; t h a t T i m 's g r o u p p l a ye d
great;that the press perceivedthat they played great;and that it
w a s a l l p u t i n w r i t i n g ,c a t a p u l t e do u r h e r o i n t o t h e p l a yg r o u n do f
m u s i c i a n sa n d m u s i c a ld i l e t t a n t e s - t h er e c o r d i n gi n du str y.
" l k n e w s o m e p e o p l e a t A & M , n a m e l yJ o h n p a i sa n o ,g u i ta r
p l a y e r w i t h t h e T i j u a n aB r a s s , "s a y s T i m . " l l i k e d t h e co m p a n y,
w i t h i t s f a m i l y - t y p ea t m o s p h e r eM . i c h a e lJ a c k s o n ( p r o d u ce ro f
P a u l Wi l l i a m s )h e l p e dm e b y w r i t i n g n o t e s a n d t a l k in gto C h u ck
K a y e , v i c e - p r e s i d e not f A & R f o r t h e l a b e l .
" T h a t f a l l , C h u c k K a y e f i n a l l yc a m e o u t t o s e e u s p l a y a t th e
c o l l e g e .A n d w e r e a l l yp l a y e dw e l l . l t a l k e d t o h i m t he n e xt w e e k
a n d s h o w e dh i m a l l t h e r e v i e w s . "
T h e n ,f o r t h e m o n t ho r t w o t h a t f o l l o w e d ,T i m w a i te d w h i l e th e
playgrounddirectors excused themselvesfrom making a deci-
s i o n .S o T i m s t a r t e dt a l k i n gt o o t h e r s ,l i k e B o b K r a sn o wa t Bl u e
ThumbRecords,who heard Tim's tapes and wanted to sign him.
MichaelJacksonmadesure Chuck Kaye heardof thesedevelop-
ments.
" We l l , g e t t h e t a p e b a c k ! " d e m a n d e dK a y e .
" B u t y o u p a s s e do n i t ! " r e p l i e dJ a c k s o n .
Kaye took the tape home over the weekend.
( Y o u s e e , o n o n e o f T i m 's r e g u l a rt r i p s t o t h e A & M l o t to su r -
r e p i t i o u s l yu s e t h e c o m p a n y 'sX e r o xm a c h i n eh, e h a d m a n a g e dto
l e a v et h e t a p e i n t h e h a n d so f g o o d g u y M i c h a e lJ a ckso n .)
\/ o where does this leave us?
R i g h t i n f r o n t o f T i m We i s b e r g 's m u s i c - a b i g fa t, ta sty,
togetherchunk of excitment.
Tim is usually teamed with Lynn Blessing(vibes,organ,syn-
thesizer)on both the writinq and performingends. (Recentgigs
have also included Dave Mason's rhythm section.) Lynn often
comes up with some interestingchangesto which Tim will add a
melody
" l 'm c o n s t a n t l yl o o k i n gf o r c o l o r s , "e x p l a i n sT i m . " Yo u ca n g e t
them from a volumestandpointor an instrumentation standpoint.
"Especiallywith the special effects devices," he says, "you
needto use restraintand keep abreastof what you are doing.Too
often, some of these devices come across more as demon-
s t r a t i o n st h a na s m u s i c a le n t e r t a i n m e nltc. a n 't g e t o ff o n d o i n g i t
u n l e s si t 's m u s i c a l . "
T i m i s c u r r e n t l y a t w o r k o n h i s t h i r d A & M a l b u m , ca l l e d
Dreamspeaker:
" T h e r ew i l l b e s o m ep r e t t yt h i n g s - i n t e r l u d e sa n d th e l i ke - b u t
t h e r ew i l l a l s o b e s o m e f i r e . I t h i n k i t c o m e s c l o s e r to th e fe e l i n g
of a live performance.
" M y m u s i c i s l i k e a c o n t i n u u mT. h e f i r s t a l b u mt oo k o n e se g -
ment out of it: the mellow things. But then there's that other
a r e a - t h e s c r e a m i n gy, e l l i n g ,g e t - i t - o nc u l t . "
But whateverend of the continuumyou happento come in on,
y o u c a n b e s u r e i t w i l l b e c o l o r f u l ,d i f f e r e n t - a n d u n i q u e l yTi m
Weisberg. db