And the second an obituary of an obscure (at least to me) pianist.
washingtonpost.com
Michael 'Dodo' Marmarosa Dies; Jazz Pianist
By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 26, 2002; Page B06
Michael "Dodo" Marmarosa, 76, one of the most promising jazz pianists of the 1940s who largely abandoned the recording scene because of increasing mental instability, died Sept. 17 at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pittsburgh after a heart attack.
Mr. Marmarosa, only 15 when he turned professional, played in the popular big bands of Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet and Artie Shaw in the 1940s. A fervent admirer of the hard-bop sound and considered one of the earliest white artists to master the style, he also played with saxophonist Charlie Parker on several landmark records.
His sound was uniformly tasteful and delicate, lending easily to slow blues and fast-paced, intricate bop.
With Shaw in 1944 and 1945, he made some of his finest recordings, including "S'wonderful" and "Summertime" (with a haunting opening trill). He reunited with Shaw for three vibrant months in 1949 in what the leader called one of his favorite groups.
"He was the greatest pianist I ever had in my band," Shaw once told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I had Hank Jones for a while, afterward. Hank was great, but he couldn't touch Marmarosa. The little cat was an early bopper. He became bored with swing music."
With Shaw's smaller outfit, the Gramercy 5, he recorded with trumpeter Roy Eldridge and guitarist Barney Kessel. He often collaborated with Kessel on other dates, including the romping "Atom Buster."
His performances were usually singled out for their power and grace, but his offstage behavior started to alarm his peers. He once tossed a piano off a balcony to hear what chord would sound when it struck the ground.
His actions were attributed to a harrowing fistfight he lost in 1943 to a gang of sailors who reportedly thought the underage Mr. Marmarosa was dodging the draft during World War II. He was comatose for 24 hours and never fully recovered from its impact. He later was institutionalized briefly.
By the early 1950s, he had settled in his home town, Pittsburgh, and he played in a club until diabetes forced him to retire.
Over the years, reviewers rediscovered Mr. Marmarosa and delighted in his sound. Critic Leonard Feather said he was one of "the great might-have-beens."
Mr. Marmarosa received his nickname because his head was disproportionately large. He was friends with fellow Pittsburgh pianist Erroll Garner, who introduced him to jazz.
After playing in the Johnny "Scat" Davis band, he worked for Krupa and then Barnet, appearing on the hit recording "Skyliner."
He turned to bop by the mid-1940s and moved to Los Angeles, where with Parker he recorded such classics as "A Night in Tunisia," "Yardbird Suite" and "Ornithology."
When Esquire magazine noted in 1947 the top young figures in jazz, Mr. Marmarosa was among them.
Within three years, he was largely out of sight. Two exceptions were albums he recorded in the early 1960s, "Dodo's Back!" and "Jub & Dodo," the latter with tenor saxophonist Gene "Jub" Ammons. |
