Davis Weiss, born October 21, 1964 in New York City, is a jazz trumpeter. He also founded The New Jazz Composers Octet which promotes jazz innovation. He graduated in 1986 from North Texas State University and studied music. He returned to New York and performed with Frank Foster, Jaki Byard, and Jimmy Heath. He continued his studies alongside Bill Hardman and Tommy Turrentine, as well as attending Barry Harris jazz classes. He eventually led an “After Hours” session for Harris and performed with many musicians such as Stephen Scott (Winard Harper), Sam Newsome, Justin Robinson. Weiss formed a band in 1990 with Craig Handy, a tenor saxophonist. The rest of the group consisted of Benny Green, Stephen Scott or Dave Kikoski, on piano and bass respectively, Christian McBride, Billy Hart, or Jeff Watts, on drums. Handy was assisted by Weiss, who also arranged the title theme. He began arranging music for such artists, as Abbey Lincoln, Freddie Hubbard and Rodney Kendrick. He arranged Haunted Melodies, an album in tribute to Rahsaan Rod Kirk. There were also tribute concerts at Birdland for Freddie Hubbard and Booker Little. Weiss recognized a lack of jazz composition and founded The New Jazz Composers Octet. Ben Ratliff, The New York Times, immediately called it “the sound of the mainstream new jazz.” The Octet’s second album, Weiss’s compositions won him grants from Chamber Music America as well as Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project : New Works Creation and presentation. Breathing Room was Weiss’s first album as leader. It featured Craig Handy, Dwayne Buro, Marcus Strickland and E.J. Strickland and some other members of the Octet. It was awarded four stars by Downbeat Magazine, JazzWise and 52nd Street. From Wikipedia
