I was born in Dayton, Ohio in March of 1966. In my early years, my parents saw my delight in hearing musical sounds. When my Mother put me up on the piano bench at age 3, I used my fingers to pluck out notes I heard in TV music. It was after I identified the notes in a passing car horn that my Mother realized I had perfect pitch and decided that music was my calling. So began many years of piano lessons.

I was fortunate to study with Mr. Audley Wasson, the best piano teacher in Dayton. It was during my time with him that I studied and performed the music of the master composers from the Baroque to the Modern periods. He taught me what beauty can come from having the tools and the passion to reach the listeners' ears.

My studies with Mr. Wasson ended when I graduated from high school. What Mr. Wasson didn't know was I was a big fan of the group 'Chicago'. I don't remember how I first heard that band, but when I realized who was making that music, I couldn't get enough of them.

I spent many hours trying to duplicate at the piano the wonderful harmonies of their compositions. When I was about 10 years old I met my future brother-in-law Randy Ross. It was Randy who introduced me to the kind of music that I would spend all of my years so far playing, learning, and exploring.

He first introduced me to the records of Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea with Return To Forever, and Weather Report. When I listened to those great composers and improvisers, I knew what I wanted to do in life.

I was not only intrigued by the melodies and harmonies, but also by the wide palette of sounds being created by the synthesizers of the day. By the time I reached The College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio, my thirst for learning about music had increased immensely.

This is where I studied with the man who I consider to be my only teacher in improvisational music, Pat Harbison. One day he gave me 2 pieces of paper that contained extremely valuable information: scales and the chords that relate to them. For the years to come, I spent night and day playing and exploring these scales with the related chords in every possible way in every possible key signature in every song I learned.

During these formative years, I played in various situations such as nightclubs, casuals, and jam sessions exploring the concepts Pat provided to me in those pages. As my playing career developed, I felt it was time to move to a place where live music was more in demand. Of the choices before me then, Los Angeles seemed a better choice... the year round weather was also a consideration. In January of 1994, I packed up a truck and made the trip in 3 days.

I found an apartment and began to look around town and see some of the great musicians playing at clubs and theaters. I slowly but surely began to play with a lot of great musicians in the area and also landed a job teaching at the Musicians Institute School.

I soon found myself playing with bands leaving town on short tours. In between those tours with various artists, I was playing with a Jazz/Latin/Funk trio with Marco Mendoza on bass and vocals, and Joey Heredia on drums when I met Dave Weckl.

From meeting Dave at this performance, we decided to get together and jam. In the first moments of this jam session, we wrote a song together and realized that we had a great chemistry together in music. As it turned out, Jay Oliver (the former keyboardist with the Dave Weckl Band) had gotten busy with many other outside projects and decided on a change in direction and left Dave's band giving me an opportunity to join.

For the past 2 or so years, I've been traveling the world with this band. Also during this time, I wrote and co-wrote songs recorded on the Dave Weckl Band CDs named 'Transition' and 'Perpetual Motion'. On a recent break from touring, I had an opportunity to reflect on my experiences and the journeys that have brought me to this point in life.

Out of this reflection was the inspiration for my solo CD project on which I am currently working. The project is entitled 'Life Times' and will be available in February 2003.

Some of the other people that I've played with:
Chaka Khan - Frank Gambale - Scott Henderson - Eric Marienthal - Kenny Rankin - Jimmy Earl - Ernie Watts - Alain Caron - Michael Ruff - Warren Hill - Marilyn Scott -Jimmy Haslip - Terry Lynn Carrington - Jason Scheff - Keith Howland - Robben Ford - John Pattituci - Bunny Brunel - Tony MaCalpine - Virgil Donati

Finally I had the chance to put my hands on Dark Blue Dream, the new CD by the great keyboard player and composer Steve Weingart.

As everyone may know Steve has been (for several years) in the Dave Weckl Band taking not only the role of the keyboard player but being (for what I think) also the composer that influenced in such a great way the music and the sound of that band. His strong ability to compose is really evident in this new work that he push in different direction in every track.

His sound is really strong and all of this is spiced with great personality and originality. You can tell (I do...) it's a Steve Weingart composition since the first note... Having said this I'm not surprised by the fact that Steve wanted to take a journey producing his own music and... (Hey!) doing it so well!

For this adventure Steve surrounded himself by some of the greatest musicians on this earth: Tommy Brechtlein on drums, Frank Gambale on guitar and Jimmy Earl on bass plus some great guest like Ernie Watts on saxophone, Ronnie Gutierrez on percussion and Renee Jones on the bass. All the musicians listed above offered their contribution at their best with brilliant performances and (above all) sounding like a real tight band. Steve Weingart is simply impressive with his unique way of leading the ride, playing keyboards and offering such a great, beautiful and highly-identifiable sounds.

Tommy Brechtlein is one of the greatest drummer in this world and you can discover why if you only listen to this record. He's really a gifted drummer and he has such a great ability to play grooves and drum solos like few ones do. What he plays throughout all of the tracks is simply amazing.

Not to mention Frank Gambale that is able to astonish anyone with his playing that is simply out of this world... Jimmy Earl close the circle with such a great elegance and solidity contributing in a great way to create a great rhythm section like you rarely may hear.

The music show different influences and you can hear remembrance of Weather Report here and some harmonic changes there that could take the mind to some of the compositions that Steve wrote in the past for the Dave Weckl Band and that really lifted the level of that band... A lot of the tracks go into many different directions too and always with great originality and personality.

The thing that I like the most is that you'll never have the chance to put this music into any kind of classification simply because... it's impossible. In my opinion, this is the best thing that could happen in a musical context. What I have to tell you is that I'm not able to remove this CD from my player since the day that I've listened to it for the first time!

The only thing that it remains to do is to go and get the CD for real and wait to see this band live. Fasten your belt and prepare for the take off. Destination: Planet Weingart... Well done Steve!

Roberto 'BOB' Baruffaldi www.thedrumland.com
Copyright © 2001-2006 Robertopeland. All rights reserved.

Other reviews:
by Richard Murray

As a leader:

Life Times Vol.1

Buy it at : www.steveweingart.com, www.amazon.com, www.cdbaby.com, www.audiophileimports.com, www.abstractlogix.com)

with the Dave Weckl Band:
-Transition -Perpetual Motion -Live, and Very Plugged In -Multiplicity

with El Grupo:
-Live (available at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/elgrupo)

with the Howland/Imboden Project:
(members of the band "Chicago") -The Howland/Imboden Project (1 track) (available at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/howland -Live at the Baked Potato (available at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/howland2)