Weiss

Longtime Cedar Grove resident Larry Weiss, whose subtle and unaggressive mastery of the cornet and piano helped drive the revival of jazz in northern New Jersey during the late 1960s and 1970s, has died at the age of 83.

Lawrence Edward Weiss was born in Newark. He lived in Cedar Grove for the last 35 years.

He and his elder brother Seymour, who played the clarinet, were captured by jazz while the two were in high school in the 1940s and both played semiprofessionally in and around Essex County. Weiss’ inspiration was Bobby Hackett, a trumpet player, 12 years his senior, who had come to fame with Benny Goodman in the 1930s. Among Weiss’ fondest memories were joint appearances he made with Hackett in later life.

In 1945 at 17, within days of his graduation from Bloomfield High School and after Seymour Weiss, a paratrooper, had suffered serious battle wounds, Weiss joined the Navy.

Returning to New Jersey after four years in the service, he enrolled at Rutgers University in Newark where he earned a bachelor’s degree. Over succeeding years, he worked full-time for radio station WVNJ in Newark and for the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in New York.

He continued to take joy in music and in making others happy. He was also known for his enormous mental inventory of brief jokes, which he shared with everyone who knew him.

During the fifties and early sixties, he played part-time at various venues including Harold’s Club in West Orange and the Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove.

In the late sixties, even as rock-and-roll became dominant, a jazz revival began in Morris County, first at the Hillside Lounge, then at the Chester Inn. Weiss performed in both clubs, mostly with Chuck Slate’s Traditional Jazz Band and Bob Thompson’s Red Onion Jazz Band.

As opportunity appeared to grow, Weiss made music his sole occupation and freelanced throughout New Jersey and New York. In the seventies and eighties, he was a frequent member of the house band at Eddie Condon’s in New York and appeared on at least six records. Most recently, he had performed Saturday nights with clarinet player Joe Licari at the Palazzo restaurant in Montclair.