Weiss Sid

Weiss Sid, jazz bassist; b. Schenectady, N.Y., April 30.1914; d. Riverside, Calif., March 29,1994. He started on violin, then played clarinet and tuba; he then switched to string bass while at high school. He first worked professionally at age 17 in N.Y.C. In the mid- to late-1930s, he worked with Wingy Manone (1934-36), Artie Shaw (1936; again September 1937-39 when the band broke up). After a few months in late 1939 with Joe Marsala, he joined Tommy Dorsey (March 1940-November 1941), and then spent three years with Benny Goodman (1943-5). After working with Goodman, he did a USO tour, then returned to the U.S. where, from 1946, he was primarily active as a studio musician. He did work on occasion with several leaders, including Eddie Condon, Joe Bushkin, and Benny Goodman (including appearance with Benny in the film Make Mine Music) during the late 1940s. He moved to Los Angeles in August 1954, where he held a day job working in an electronics company; he continued to gig and play sessions through the mid-1960s. In 1968, he was appointed business representative for recording department of Local 47, Musicians’ Union, a position he held for three years, and he then worked for the Calif, department of labor until his retirement in 1979.

Discography

“Swingin’ on That Famous Door” (1935); “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (1941); “Limehouse Blues” (1941); “If I Had You” (1941); “The World is Waiting for the Sunrise” (1942); “The Wang Wang Blues” (1942); “Rachel’s Dream” (1944); “Only Another Boy and Girl” (1944); The Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings, Vol.2 (1944); After You’ve Gone (1944); Concerto for Cozy Cozy Cole 1944 (1970); Piano After Midnight (1957); Concerto for Cozy (1959); Chicago Jazz (1950); The B.G. Six (1945); After Hours with Joe Bushkin (1952); The Pied Piper of Jazz (1982).

—John Chilton/Lewis Porter