Musician, comedian, and theoretical physicist Brian Wecht has released the debut solo album of his smooth jazz persona Trey Magnifique. Mature Situations is out today on all digital platforms and available on cassette tape HERE. Although the vinyl version has sold out, more are currently being made and will be available soon.
GET INTO MATURE SITUATIONS: HERE
Brian is best known as the keyboard-playing “Ninja Brian” in his comedy bands Ninja Sex Party, who were Billboard’s top-selling comedy artist of 2018, and Starbomb, who were Billboard’s top-selling comedy artist of 2019. Brian is also known for his kids’ comedy band Go Banana Go!, a mainstay on SiriusXM station Kids Place Live. and other family music stations around the world. Collectively, Starbomb and Ninja Sex Party have released 13 albums, and have over 500M views on YouTube, and over 2M social media followers.
Mature Situations was five years in the making and inspired by artists such as George Benson, Grover Washington Jr, Bob James, and Spyro Gyra. The album is an exploration of multiple styles, from straightforward Smooth Jazz to Latin Jazz, Blues, Easy Listening, and more, all of which were written and produced by Brian and his longtime collaborator Commander Meouch, the bassist for the popular electro-funk band TWRP. Brian is a lifelong lover of jazz who became particularly fascinated with smooth jazz, a genre that boasts some of the most exceptional musicians in the world, but oftentimes gets written off. Brian was a sax player in college, and although he hadn’t touched a horn in years, was drawn to the oddball nature of the soprano sax, and what he could possibly create with it. “ I bought a soprano sax a few years back (because it’s the funniest one),” says Brian, “and decided to see what I could create with it that lived equally in the worlds of comedy and jazz.”
Brian released two singles leading into the album, the first “Satin Velvet,” followed by “Santa Monica Boulevard” that had an accompanying video featuring Trey Magnifique alongside comedian, musician, and TikTok star Tom Cardy getting into “mature smooth jazz situations” in and around Los Angeles. “The idea,” says Brian “was to take the music seriously, but make it intentionally cheesy and of questionable artistic value. ” It’s a genre of music that I refer to as ‘is this good?’”
Brian is originally from Pompton Lakes, NJ, and in addition to his musical exploits, he had a long career as a scientist, including a doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of California, San Diego. He held postdoctoral research positions at MIT, Harvard, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and the University of Michigan, and was a faculty member in the Centre for Research in String Theory at Queen Mary University of London. He has authored over 30 papers in theoretical physics, focusing on supersymmetric quantum field theories and string theory. While pursuing his academic interests, he began doing improv comedy with San Diego TheatreSports and went on to become the Musical Director of the Improv Asylum in Boston, MA. After moving to New York, he met Dan Avidan through a mutual comedy friend, and the two created Ninja Sex Party in 2009. In 2015, Wecht left his faculty position at Queen Mary in order to focus on his YouTube career full-time. Now in addition to music, Brian maintains an active career as a public speaker and science communicator and is one of the organizers of the annual Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS).
Trey Magnifique and songs from the album came to life last night to a packed crowd, swaying to the sweetness of his sax at the Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles. After bringing Trey Magnifique’s music to the masses, Brian will have a busy 2024 with the new Ninja Sex Party album These Nuts, out on March 8, 2024.
