Wielding the Bow, and the Bow Tie

For at least six decades, many young jazzmen have viewed the music’s early years as hopelessly uncool. Aaron Weinstein discovered that in 2003, when he began his four years at Berklee College of Music. Postbop and beyond obsessed most of his classmates; some of them, he says, “even considered Charlie Parker to be old-school.” In their company, Weinstein was a unicorn, and so he remains. A retro egghead in a jacket, bow tie, and glasses, he plays violin; his repertoire comes from an era of big-horned Victrolas and Prohibition gin mills.

But his playing isn’t flashy; it has