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• The spot where Grand Avenue hits Lafayette Avenue—where Brooklyn meets Africa—is now “Randy Weston Way.”
At Sunday’s street naming ceremony, a bright sun shone on Randy’s widow, Fatou, and a gathering of Randy’s literal and figurative families. Had he been there, Weston, who died last September at 92, wouldn’t have been the oldest musician present (percussionist Cándido Camero, who is 98, took that honor). He wouldn’t have been the only pianist present—among others, Monty Alexander and Rodney Kendrick, who each performed on an upright, out on the street. Among the speakers, brilliant writers (including Robin Kelley and Ishmael Reed) and a bevy of local politicians echoed Weston’s lifelong themes of a transcendent African identity, personal empowerment, jazz’s spiritual heft and the joy of living.
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