NEW RELEASE. Steve Tintweiss. Whistle Stop Tour

This record inaugurates the INKY DoT MEDIA imprint, launched to share the contents of Tintweiss’s voluminous recording archive; moreover, IDM 001 is the first officially published recording of bassist Steve Tintweiss as composer or bandleader.
 

The Steve Tintweiss Spacelight Band: guest artist Byard Lancaster (alto saxophone);
Ric Frank (tenor saxophone); Steve Tintweiss (double bass, composer, leader);
Lou Grassi (drums);

On side A: Rowan Storm (vocals and doumbek drums); whistling by Tintweiss and ensemble.

Recorded Labor Day, September 7, 1992 at Forest Park Bandshell, Queens NY City.
 

Tintweiss founded the Spacelight Band in 1976 as a flagship ensemble for showcasing his music. Like all of his efforts, this ensemble was dedicated to performing his unique compositions—both newly composed works and the durable staples of his catalog of original music and lyrics, in the tradition of modern jazz with modern poetic lyrics. The name, band, and concept continued with minor personnel changes into the 21st Century. These 1992 tracks are among the best versions of two standout originals, as selected by composer Tintweiss, who produced the performance and this release.

Now available for retail sale Steve Tintweiss EP 001 on Amazon

Contact for distribution and bulk ordering: inkyprojects@gmail.com

More information at www.inky.media and spacelightband.com

Best known internationally as bassist on the final Albert Ayler live recordings in France at the Maeght Foundation, and numerous pioneering ESP-Disk’ albums including the Patty Waters Sings rendition of “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair”, Steve Tintweiss now introduces on this recording his activities as iconic free-form jazz artist, composer, bandleader and producer of avant-garde music concerts in the greater New York City area over the past 55 years.
 

Since the mid-1960s, Steve Tintweiss has played bass with Albert Ayler, Sam Rivers, Gato Barbieri, Patty Waters, Perry Robinson, Byard Lancaster, Burton Greene, and many other legendary jazz artists. In the very active musical ferment of the Sixties, he appeared throughout the northeast with the Burton Greene Quartet, Ms. Waters, the Uni Trio, and in the panoply of loft sessions, rehearsals, radio broadcasts, jams, benefits—from Tompkins Square Park to Woodstock, New York arts venues. He played bass with Van Morrison in multiple rehearsals for a pending Bert Berns produced Bang recording session to establish Van’s solo career in the US. 
 

A graduate of Queens College, Steve studied with bassists Steve Swallow, Gary Peacock, and David Izenzon. Formal studies in electronic music composition with Hubert Howe and John Watts, as well as jazz arranging with John Carisi, enhanced his musical style.
 

Tintweiss’s own bands began with the Purple Why in 1966, delivering his tunes as played and sung with the free flow of Jazz improvisation and the raw energy of psychedelic rock. Forthcoming releases in 2019 will illuminate the whole breadth of that group: They haunted Town Hall, St. Mark’s Church, Studio We, the Village, Lincoln Center Bandshell, Peace Ship, public radio, libraries and Forest Park Bandshell in Queens, helping to stake out the turf that was later declared Loft Jazz by the New York Musicians Organization in 1972. By the mid-Seventies, those early groups gave way to the Spacelight Band as the major vehicle for his music. 
 

He founded the New York Free Music non-profit association in 1969 and has received grants from New York State Council on the Arts, Poets & Writers, Meet the Composer, AT&T, and Queens Council on the Arts.

As Chairman/Founder, Steve produced concerts that presented a wide range of styles, including jazz, blues, rock, punk (featuring early Blondie performances in Forest Park), classical, dance, and poetry, in public programs emphasizing cutting-edge avant-garde styles. 
 

Mr. Tintweiss was selected to be String Coordinator and Arts Administrator for Queens Symphony Orchestra CETA Artists Program in 1979 (he managed a string quartet, a brass quintet and a woodwind quintet), which presented 540 concerts, workshops and open rehearsals in 53 weeks of existence. Steve was the bass player for Albert Ayler’s final tour at Maeght Foundation which resulted in a 1970 French Grand Prix du Disque for best album, In/Memoriam, Swing Journal Silver Award 1971 in Japan, and a documentary movie of the event by Jean-Michel Meurice titled Albert Ayler, Le Dernier Concert (France 1970). He continues to expand his music production activities as an entrepreneur and archivist—exploring the realm of new media technology including virtual reality high-definition audio, video, and multimedia.