DR
career
Dan Weiss started playing the drums at the age of 6 and has studied privately since he began. His main teacher as a child and teenager was Jeff Krause. While in high school Weiss studied classical piano and classical composition. He studied drums and composition at the Manhattan School of Music. His drum teacher was John Riley for 4 years and his composition teacher was David Noon. Dan also studied frame drums with Jamey Hadaad.
Weiss has performed and or recorded with David Binney, Lee Konitz, Dave Liebman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Miguel Zenon, Wayne Krantz, Kenny Werner, Ritchie Beirach, Ben Monder, Uri Caine, Village Vanguard Orchestra, Ravi Coltrane and many others. He has been touring Europe and North America extensively for the past 12 years with many different projects. Weiss has also played in South America and Asia and has recorded over 60 recordings as a sideman for for Omnitone, Fresh Sound/New Talent, Arabesque, Enja, Pi, Criss cross, Between the Lines, Act, Hat Hut, and Auand record labels.
Weiss has been studying tabla for the last fifteen years exclusively under the guidance of his guru Pandit Samir Chatterjee. He has performed classical Indian music in India and the United States, with Ramesh Mishra, Mandira Lahiri, Subra Guha, Anoushka Shanka, Asish Khan, Joyas Biswas, K.V. Mahabala and Steve Gorn. He has also performed in recitals with his teacher in Kolkatta, India.
Weiss has five recordings under his own name. Two are unique solo recordings which contain traditional tabla repertoire adapted to the drumset in a classical manner. Two are trio cds which includes Jacob Sacks on piano and Thomas Morgan on bass in which Weiss composed all the material. His most recent project was ’14’ and was released in 2014. It is a suite broken down in seven parts composed for 14 musicians. The cd was critically acclaimed.
Weiss has contributed articles to ‘Modern Drummer’ dealing with Indian rhythm and its applicability to western contexts. He has self published a book entitled "Tintal Drumset Transcriptions." He has given clinics all over the United States as well as Canada and Europe. He has a loyal base of students in the New York area and travels around the United States and europe to give drum / tabla workshops.