 From there, he began arranging for such artists as Abbey Lincoln, Freddie Hubbard, and Rodney Kendrick, Alto Legacy with Phil Woods, Vincent Herring, and Antonio Hart.He arranged an album called "Haunted Melodies" in tribute to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, as well as tribute concerts at Birdland for Freddie Hubbard, Booker Little, and Lee Morgan.Recognizing a dearth of new jazz composition, Weiss founded The New Jazz Composers Octet, which Ben Ratliff of "The New York Times" immediately hailed as "the sound of the new jazz mainstream."