Photo by Lara Leimbach

Benny Weinbeck and bassist Gordon Johnson.

By Michelle Bruch

Jazz pianist Benny Weinbeck has been a fixture a D’Amico Cucina for 21 years

By 10:30 p.m. on a recent Friday, couples that were paired up around the D'Amico Cucina bar with half-empty bottles of wine turned their attention from their plates to the jazz pianist in the corner.

Benny Weinbeck started playing "Moon River," and a waitress paused and leaned against the bar.

"I love this song," she mouthed to another waitress passing by.

One couple heaved plush leather chairs away from the counter to face the piano directly. A waiter promptly set up a small table between them and lit a candle.

"I have the best job Downtown," proclaimed a bartender who works every Friday. He said
occasionally he'll duck behind a pillar to catch the last few notes of a song uninterrupted.

The night was quiet, but typical for the restaurant at Butler Square. Weinbeck has played there for 21 years now, and bassist Gordon Johnson has joined him at Cucina for the last 18 of those.

You can find Weinbeck settling down to the piano around 8 p.m. almost every Friday and Saturday night. And that's after a full day of music composition for independent films, recording sessions or even video games. Long days on the keys can take a toll — Weinbeck had a band-aid stuck to a cracked fingertip while he played on that recent Friday.

Music isn't the most lucrative industry Weinbeck could choose, but he said it pays the rent and has its perks.

At D'Amico Cucina, for example, Weinbeck might enjoy a glass of red wine or the crepes — "warm almond frangipane crepes with vanilla mascarpone mousse and candied apricots," to be exact. He spent a winter playing at a D'Amico location in Naples, Fla., and he spent another winter playing in Aspen, Colo., where he skied 60 days over the course of a few months.

Another nice perk is the thrill of radio play.

"When I do hear my own stuff on the radio, that's really cool," he said. "It always sounds better on the radio."

Weinbeck's "Standards" CD spent 26 weeks at No. 1 in the rotation on KBEM-FM jazz radio, and he has a brand new album out this month titled "For Friends and Lovers." (His daughter Ella, named for Ella Fitzgerald, drew the heart that appears on the album cover.)

Weinbeck's mother pushed him into piano lessons as a kid, but the lessons were a chore until he found a new piano teacher who let him play whatever he wanted. Weinbeck latched onto his mother's boogie-woogie records, and by seventh grade, kids would gather around the piano to hear him play and Weinbeck was thriving on all the attention.

"The sound, it kind of catches you," he said. "I became intrigued by it."

He landed the D'Amico Cucina gig thanks to the only part-time job he took beyond high school. He sold shoes at Bonaventure Mall. A restaurant manager named Richard D'Amico worked at the French bistro across the hall, and D'Amico would often bring over potato skins and chat over breaks.

D'Amico later took over La Tortue at Butler Square, and Weinbeck performed at D'Amico Cucina's grand opening in that space in the fall of 1987.

"There's a few people that have been coming there for almost as long," Weinbeck said. "I feel like it's like a family there."

Weinbeck's own family hails from Winsted, Minn. His parents owned a movie theater in town where his mom sold tickets, his dad sold popcorn and his brother worked the projector. Weinbeck got the enviable job of cleaning the theater for $2.

"I always wanted to write music for the movies," he said.

Weinbeck has since composed music or handled audio production for several films, including "Building at a Crossroads," a documentary about the Sears building; and "Been Rich All My Life," a film about 1930s-era dancers from New York's Cotton Club. (The women are still dancing and performing into their 90s, and they performed at the movie's premiere.)

To produce music for movies, Weinbeck must write based on hours of uncut footage or long scripts, and later edit the music to fit the changing contours of the films.

"Right now, I'm working on an art film for this filmmaker from New York, and he sent me the final version, and so now, of course, I have to cut it down," he said. "That's a challenge, but it's fun."

Weinbeck said his fascination with computers drew him into writing music for video games, such as the game "Wordigo."

Weinbeck has also produced multimedia art that he matches to music. Red Bull used one of his video art projects at a First Avenue New Year's Eve party. The commission earned Weinbeck a lifetime supply of Red Bull — he consumed about a six-pack but has since given most of it away.

The slew of recording and writing projects keep Weinbeck quite busy. He started his new album in late October, and he wanted the CD to come out in early January. That required scheduling recording sessions, booking the accompanying musicians, mixing it, mastering it, and shipping the album to the manufacturer at least two weeks before the anticipated release. In December, he juggled the album work with a series of gigs at holiday parties. He's needed to quickly change into his tux in the car on more than one occasion.

"It's busy, but it's all good stuff," he said.

It helps that each gig doesn't require too much preparation. Weinbeck and Johnson don't keep a set list ahead of time. Weinbeck might bring in a couple of pages of sheet music, but he has about 300 songs committed to memory.

"Ninety percent of it is improvisation," he said.

It also helps that Weinbeck and Johnson have been playing together for nearly 20 years. Despite their large repertoire, Johnson will often suggest that they play the same song Weinbeck had in mind.

As Weinbeck sat down again at the piano after a short break at D'Amico Cucina, he waited while Johnson got situated.

"Here we are," he said.

"Here we are again," Johnson replied.

Without another word, they launched into the next tune.



Reach Michelle Bruch at 436-4372 or mbruch@mnpubs.com