Steve Tintweiss

Steve Tintweiss (born July 12, 1946) is an American jazz double bassist, composer, bandleader, and concert organizer in New York. He is the founder of the New York Free Music Committee, a music collective that specializes in park performances in the New York City area.

Tintweiss has performed and recorded with many leading jazz musicians including Albert Ayler, Milford Graves, Sam Rivers, Gato Barbieri, Perry Robinson, Burton Greene, Rashied Ali, Matt Wilson, and Van Morrison.

Steve Tintweiss was born in Brooklyn on July 12, 1946. He grew up in Brooklyn and Queens.

Tintweiss got his start in music at a young age; he started his education by learning tenor horn but later switched to bass. His early music influences include John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, and Pharoah Sanders.

In his teens, he took music lessons from jazz bassist Steve Swallow after he heard Swallow and singer Sheila Jordan perform at a coffee shop in Greenwich Village in New York. After that, he studied double bass with Gary Peacock who was in Miles Davis quintet at the time.

After Peacock left to tour with Albert Ayler in Europe in 1964, Tintweiss perfected his arco bowing technique with Ornette Coleman bassist David Izenzon.

In those years, Tintweiss played at several matinee concerts in the Birdland Jazz Club in midtown New York. In 1965, he joined the Burton Greene Trio with percussionist Shelly Rusten and recorded "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", which was included in Patty Waters' debut album Sings. In 1966, he toured with the Burton Greene Trio; the recording titled On Tour is available on Bernard Stollman's label ESP-Disk'.

In 1967, saxophonist Frank Wright recruited Tintweiss in his quintet to record his second album Your Prayer. Tintweiss played bass alongside Arthur Jones (alto sax), Jacques Coursil (trumpet), and Muhammad Ali (drums). In a 2003 AllAboutJazz profile, Tintweiss stated: "All of us, except for Jacques Coursil, the trumpet player, were all on acid for that record… we had learned to use LSD in a disciplined way, as a tool. We were able to discipline ourselves to be able to play and fulfill our obligations."

On May 12, 1967, Tintweiss, Perry Robinson, Laurence Cook, Jacques Coursil, and Warren Gale recorded a free jazz album Ave B Free Jam (INKY DoT MEDIA – IDM CD 005, Nov. 2021).

The following year, he joined The Marzette Watts Ensemble to record their second and last album (eponymous) on Savoy Records. In the album produced by Bill Dixon, Tintweiss played bass with Juini Booth (bass); George Turner (cornet); J. C. Moses and Tom Berge (drums); Bobby Few (piano); Marty Cook (trombone); Frank Kipers (violin); and Amy Schaeffer and Patty Waters (voice). AllMusic awarded the album 4 1/2 stars.

In the fall of 1968, with his new band "The Purple Why", he recorded an avant-garde jazz album MarksTown (INKY DoT MEDIA, IDM CD 003). In his group were Trevor Koehler (baritone saxophone), Laurence Cook (drums), Mark Whitecage (tenor saxophone), James Duboise (trumpet), and Amy Sheffer and Judy Stuart (vocals).

In 1970, Albert Ayler asked Tintweiss to join him for a European tour. Tintweiss played double bass with Ayler at The Maeght Foundation concerts in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, on July 25, 1970. With him were the drummer Allen Blairman and soprano saxophonist Mary Maria (Mary Parks). The recording titled Live on the Riviera was released in 2005 on the ESP-Disk label.

That year, he also played with Burton Greene in the Netherlands.

New York Free Music Committee

In the early 1970s, Tintweiss established an organization called the New York Free Music Committee (NYFMC) that specialized almost exclusively in park performances in the New York City area. The concerts cover many forms of art and genres, from avant-garde jazz to poetry to dance to rock. Programs are independently produced and recorded for Ultra Music Frontier by Inkwhite Productions.

Many leading musicians of the time performed at their concerts, including Debbie Harry and Blondie + Emmett Chapman in 1975, at Forest Park Music Grove in New York.

He also performed at those concerts with his ensemble comprising drummer Lou Grassi, Ric Frank (tenor saxophone), Rowan Storm (vocals and doumbek drums), and the singer Amy Sheffer.

Continued music training

From 1971 to 1975, Tintweiss extended his music education at Queens College in Queens, New York, graduating with a bachelor's in music, media, and computer science. Later he studied electronic music from John Watts at the New School For Social Research in New York.

Steve Tintweiss Spacelight Band

In 1976, Tintweiss formed his Steve Tintweiss Spacelight Band with Byard Lancaster (alto saxophone), Lou Grassi (drums), Ric Frank (tenor saxophone), and Rowan Storm (vocals and doumbek drums). Occasionally they were also joined by clarinetist Perry Robinson. In 1980, the Spacelight band performed at New York University, featuring saxophonist Charles Brackeen and vocalist Genie Sherman.

From 1978 to 1980, he was the CETA Artists Project Administrator for the Queens Symphony Orchestra.

Also in 1980, he played bass on singer Amy Sheffer's album Sanctuary Mine (I Am Shee Records – AS0080) with Billy Mintz (drums), John Disselt (oboe), Kenny Gill (piano), and Curtis Fields (saxophone). The album was recorded at Hank O'Neal's Downtown Sound Studio in New York.

On September 7, 1992, the band performed at the Whistle Stop Tour at Forest Park Bandshell in Queens. The recording is available on INKY DoT MEDIA (IDM 2018 EP 001).

INKY DoT MEDIA

In 2018, Tintweiss launched INKY DoT MEDIA, an avant-garde free jazz record label. He has also re-issued, or issued previously unreleased material, on his label.

Video: Your Prayer by Frank Wright Quintet

• Patty Waters Sings (ESP 1965, with Burton Greene, Tom Price)
• Burton Greene On tour (ESP 1966, with Shelly resting)
• Patty Waters College tour (ESP 1966, one piece only)
• Burton Greene Presenting Burton Greene (Columbia 1968, with Byard Lancaster, Shelly Rusten)
• Marzette Watts The Marzette Watts Ensemble, Savoy 1969, with George Turner, Marty Cook, Frank Kipers, Bobby Few, June Booth, Cevera Jeffers, Tom Berge, J. C. Moses, Amy Schaeffer, Patty Waters
• Albert Ayler Nuits de La Fondation Maeght, Vol. 1 & 2 (Shandar 1970, ed. 1976, with Mary Maria Parks, Call Cobbs Jr., Allen Blairman)
• Albert Ayler Live on the Rivera (ESP 1970, ed. 2005)