About the Band
Second Groove: Modern, Classic, and Original Jazz
Contact: mark@markweber.com
Second Groove is a band of veteran musicians exploring a wide range of jazz styles. Adding modern twists to the classic jazz piano trio format, Second Groove moves easily between swing, funk, Latin, rock, and other genres. The New Jersey-based trio has been performing together since 2015 around the greater New York City area. Second Groove was the house band for the renowned Jazz Vespers series at Morristown Presbyterian Church, and remains a fixture on the North Jersey jazz scene.
Listen to and watch Second Groove on YouTube.
Bud Ayres (bass) is a well-known player in the New Jersey jazz and rock scenes, playing with Tomoko Ohno, Anton Denner, Erick Storckmann, Ryan Hernandez, Josh Rubin, and many others. Bud studied with jazz bass legends Michael Moore and Rufus Reid.
Steve Hess (drums) studied percussion at the University of Delaware and has played jazz ensembles around New Jersey for the past several decades. He was the director of the acclaimed Jazz Vespers series at Morristown Presbyterian Church, and regularly plays in pit orchestras for musicals around the region.
Mark Weber (piano) is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow in Composition and a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Composition Fellow. His works, which combine elements of jazz, pop, and classical music, have been performed around the world. Mark is also a highly regarded music educator, winning the New Jersey Governor’s Award for Teaching in 2022. Mark’s extensive resume as a player and arranger includes work with Bob Brookmeyer, Frank DeVol, Milt Hinton, Helen O’Connell, and many others.
Frequent Guests
Second Groove often plays with Josh Rubin. After graduating Berklee College of Music in 1987, Josh embarked on a career as a performing guitarist and teaching. He performed with such artists as George Coleman, David Grisman, Claudio Roditi, Grady Tate and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in venues including Carnegie Hall, The Knitting Factory, Village Gate, Pier 16, Avery Fisher Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. Josh has recorded a number of CDs as sideman and as featured soloist. Education is a large part of Josh’s musical life, he currently teaches privately in Montclair and Clifton and is also an adjunct faculty member at Caldwell University .
