* En anglais uniquement
Weiss played bass for many of the top white jazz musicians of the '30s and '40s, including trumpeters
Louis Prima,
Bunny Berigan, and
Wingy Manone; clarinetist
Artie Shaw; trombonist
Tommy Dorsey; saxophonist
Charlie Barnet; and -- perhaps most notably --
Benny Goodman. In his youth,
Weiss played violin, clarinet, and tuba; he made the change to bass as a teenager. He began playing in New York around 1931, and over the next decade worked with the aforementioned musicians, as well as bass saxophonist
Adrian Rollini, among others. He played and recorded often with
Goodman from 1941-1945; from 1945, he worked freelance with such musicians as trumpeter
Muggsy Spanier, clarinetist
Pee Wee Russell, drummer
Cozy Cole, and saxophonist
Bud Freeman; as well as
Duke Ellington and
Eddie Condon.
Weiss stopped performing full-time around 1954. ~ Chris Kelsey