Musical  Marriage of Bass and Piano

Couple perform standards weekly at the Maidstone

By Marie Ewald

Peter Martin Weiss and Jane Hastay’s musical performance is enhanced by more than talent and practice. The union of the exuberant bass player and the soft-spoken pianist is consecrated by matrimonial vows. “We really have each other’s best interest at heart. That doesn’t often happen with other musicians,” Ms. Hastay said, looking over her teacup at her husband.

“Jane and I have spent a lot of time getting to know each other musically, artistically, personally,” Mr. Weiss explained. “It’s a real marriage. We accommodate each other, and the end result is a collective sound that is really beautiful.”

With international tours and the New York jazz scene neatly tucked away in their past, a month ago the musicians found a permanent venue in East Hampton, the Maidstone Arms. Every Friday evening Mr. Weiss and Ms. Hastay play songs by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Duke Ellington, and George and Ira Gershwin. “We always had this dream of playing together. Now we have a steady gig,” Mr. Weiss said. Both of them are singers, which is one reason they chose to perform standards from the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s, all of which have “wonderful lyrics,” they said. Also, that period in American history was filled with angst as a result of soldiers being sent overseas and the fierce courage of families surviving through he Depression. “There’s a lot of hope in that music,” Ms. Hastay said. The selection includes numerous love songs, Mr. Weiss added, all of which have stood the test of time. Older generations tend to know the lyrics, and young people who don’t have a personal connection to the music nevertheless enjoy it, Ms. Hastay added. “It moves me personally, and I’m not alone. It has a wide appeal”

Lounging on couches by the wood stove, or sipping wine at the cozy tables in the restaurant’s Boat Bar and Bistro, patrons sing along to the music. “I feel it’s the responsibility of the artist to reach an audience and bring them in,” Mr. Weiss said.

California Dreamin’

They both have experience with numerous musical styles, such as hard-core jazz, funk, rhythm and blues, and classical.  Ms. Hastay’s history with music started in Minneapolis, where she first tickled the ivories at age 5. Years later, when one of her teachers suggested she play jazz in clubs, she immediately declined. “But I think I really wanted to,” she confided. “I was a shy performer.” Since then, she has tackled both the San Francisco and New York club scenes. Although Minneapolis, a culturally rich city, “was a great place to cut your teeth,” Ms. Hastay said she decided to pursue her career in San Francisco, Calif., where there was a strong women’s music movement. She graduated from Mills College in Oakland and started playing in jazz groups, with vocalists, and for theater companies. She led her own trio at the Fairmont Hotel, toured Europe as the musical director of a women’s theater group, and performed with the recording artist Denise Perrier. During her California stint, Ms. Hastay met her future husband.

A native of Huntington, Mr. Weiss picked up the string bass in seventh grade but abandoned it for the acoustic guitar during his teenage years. While in college for two years at the State University at Oneonta, he played folk music in coffeehouses until he was accepted to Berkelee School of Music for guitar. When he arrived at the campus in 1979, more than half the students played guitar, “and they were great,” he said. He bought a Fender bass for $25 and switched his studies to electric bass. “I discovered quickly that everyone wants a bassist.”

Mr. Weiss earned a master’s degree in string bass at the Manhattan School of Music, where his wife later earned a master’s in jazz piano performance, and he worked as a freelance bassist, playing with the Bronx Symphony, the Greenwich Village Symphony, and numerous jazz groups. In 1986 he went on the road with the Etta Jones and Houston Person quintet, a family-like group with which he played for more than 10 years at venues worldwide.

“I felt like I had this perfect life, but I wanted someone to share it with me,” he said. While Mr. Weiss was on tour in San Francisco 11 years ago, he and Ms. Hastay heard each other play. Instantly attracted, they started writing letters. When he returned six months later, they spent two nights at an all-night diner, talking until 6 a.m. They soon discovered that their instruments complemented each other as perfectly as their personalities did. “It was easy right from the get-go to play together,” Ms. Hastay said. They spent roughly a decade in Brooklyn, occasionally performing together, and they produced a CD in 1999 titled “NeverNeverLand,” a collection of expressive and fluid jazz tunes that demonstrates the seamless union of Ms. Hastay’s delicate piano playing and Mr. Weiss’s strong bass work.

Mr. Weiss also produced a CD titled “Bass Hits,” a celebration of bassist composers, on which his wife also plays.

When the musicians entered their 40s, they longed for a community and serene landscape. They bought a house in East Hampton two years ago and set out to make a living.

Ms. Hastay joined the faculty of the Ross School in East Hampton for two years as its choral director, and she now teaches piano and voice lessons at home. She is also a church organist.

The couple is happiest playing with each other. They frequently improvise at home and have built a strong musical relationship, they said. “People seem to notice a good rapport,” Mr. Weiss said. “You come to realize that music should be that way. There should be empathy.”

“You learn which toes you don’t want to step on,” his wife agreed. Now that they perform together regularly, they can cultivate their sound even more, they said.

“It really becomes the way we want to be heard,” Mr. Weiss said. “The gig at the Maidstone is the culmination of a long journey.”

October 12, 2003