Deborah Weisz
Trombone 1

From playing in the Sahara Desert with Roswell Rudd's Trombone Shout Band, to creating music in a grain silo, to touring all over the world with Frank Sinatra, trombonist and award-winning composer Deborah Weisz's life in music has been filled with diversity.

Originally from Chicago, Deborah's life-long love of the trombone began at the age of 10 (in Phoenix, AZ, where her family relocated), and has taken her on a musical journey that has included stops in Las Vegas (where she began working for Sinatra) and New York City, where she has lived since 1993; performing a wide variety of music work, including: Broadway shows, chamber and orchestral groups, studio recording work for TV/Film, and Jimmy Heath's big band. She has performed in small jazz ensembles with artists such as Freddie Hubbard, Roswell Rudd, and has been a featured guest jazz artist at festivals all over the world.

As a composer, she has received grants/commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Julius Hemphill Jazz Composition Award competition, and the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA)/Meet the Composer.

Her debut CD, with her quintet, Breaking Up, Breaking Out, had critics writing... "that rare debut that goes beyond showing promise to actually delivering the musical goods" (Cadence), "a debut to cheer," (JazzTimes), and the legendary jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath wrote, "This is Post Bop Modernism at its best." Regarding her quintet's second CD, Grace, released September 2005, Jazz pianist/composer Jim McNeely writes, "Deborah Weisz has developed a personal voice as both trombonist and composer/arranger... she makes a powerful statement on the potential of modern small-group jazz."

Along with her career as a trombonist/composer, Deborah has taught at Rutgers University (2002-04), has been a faculty member of the NY Pops Educational Programs since 1994, teaches privately out of her NYC studio, and is active as a guest artist/clinician at various schools/camps across the U.S. (Educational Specialist for Conn-Selmer, Inc.)

For more information please visit her new website.

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