rendezvous with Martin Weiss

Martin Weiss was born in 1961 in Berlin. He comes from a large traditional musical family, known to most as a "Gypsy" or "Sinti" family. His grandfather taught him everything about music that was passed down from generation to generation. His grandfather gave him the timeless advice to always play with honesty, integrity, and realness. This "essence of music" gave Martin a solid musical ground that helped him develop his own style through his young years as a musician. At 17 years old, he was already a shooting-star with the Häns'che Weiss Ensemble that enjoyed international success. Together, Martin and the ensemble developed a new sound that became known as the only authentic Jazz music that was developed in Europe.

Martin became sponsored by the Goethe Institute as a "European Culture Export" that brought him to many countries: Latin America, South America, Canada, India, Eastern-Europe---just to name a few. This intense time, with it's immense musical diversity and experiences, still influences Martin today.

Searching for new musical horizons; Martin left the band of his uncle. A quote, "...within me was a desire to find and develop something new in jazz... A hard decision, as this band was very successful." From that moment, Martin has toured until 2008 with his reknowned Sinti Jazz Ensemble around the world; playing established and large festivals and famous concert halls. Martin was even given an Honorary Doctor award from Mexico City.

Over the years, Martin has performed with musicians such as: Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessell, Milt Hinton, Ray Brown, Bireli Lagrene, Babik Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli, Phillip Catherine, Joe Pass, Ravi Shankar, and many other.