Grant Calvin Weston was born June 6, 1959, in Philadelphia, PA. He became interested in drums at the age of 6, when he (and his neighbors) discovered his talent for rhythm as he beat on every car on the block. He lived in North Philadelphia where he saw musicians like Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five, and James Brown at the Uptown Theatre. Seeing his attention focused on the drummers, his father bought him a small set. In high school, Calvin learned to read music and played second snare in the drum ensemble. He co-founded the group Bad Influence which played in cabarets and clubs around Philadelphia.
At 17, Calvin joined Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time Band, with bass player Jamalaadean Tacuma, his close friend from Philly, which toured extensively in North America and Europe. After recording four albums with Prime Time, Calvin went on to play and record with guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer, until he joined John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards in 1990.
During the late ’90s, Calvin recorded and toured with Billy Martin of Medeski Martin and Wood, Tricky, Eyvind Kang, Derek Baily, Mark Ribot, and James Carter. He also played on several movie soundtracks, including “Get Shorty”.
G.Calvin Weston also put out three CDs of his own in 2012 – “Play Out Loud” (with John Medeski on keyboards, Elliot Garland on bass, and Marina Vishnyakova on violin), “Cosmic Miles” (Roberto Cervi on guitar, Mario Mazzenga on bass, Elliot Levin on sax and flute, David Dzubinski on keyboards) and “Of Alien Feelings” with Karl E.H. Seigfried.
He also has a new band with world guitarist Vernon Reid and bass player Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and formed the group FreeFormFunkyFreqs. Their first album “Urban Mythology Volume 1” was produced by Vernon Reid, and their second album “Bon Vivant” was produced by Jamaaladeen Tacuma.
G. Calvin Weston has also played on the Asmodeus album, with Marc Ribot and Trevor Dunn.
For his latest project, G. Calvin Weston is producing the third FreeFormFunkyFreqs album, “Hymn from the Third Galaxy,” coming out soon from 577 Records.