Joe Morello

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On the farewell tour with the "Dave Brubeck Quartet", 1967

Joseph Albert "Joe" Morello (* 17th July 1928 in Springfield , Massachusetts ; † 12. March 2011 in Irvington , New Jersey ) was an American jazz - drummer .

Live and act

Visually impaired from birth, Morello first learned to play the violin at the age of six, with which he made a solo appearance in Mendelssohn's violin concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the age of nine . At the age of 15 he switched to drums, which he learned from George Lawrence Stone (who was so impressed by his student's new techniques that he dedicated the next textbook to him) and Billy Gladstone from Radio City Music Hall . Morello became a regular member of the Marian McPartland Trio (1953-1956) after working with the Glen Gray Band (1950), guitarist Johnny Smith (1952) and the Stan Kenton Band (1952 ). From 1957 to 1967 he formed the most famous formation of the Dave Brubeck Quartet together with Dave Brubeck (piano), Paul Desmond (alto saxophone) and Gene Wright (bass) . Brubeck left him room for extended solos. Good examples of this are Castilian Drums , Take Five , Far More Drums , Watussi Drums and Unsquare Dance . The recordings of the famous concert on February 22, 1963 at Carnegie Hall offer a particularly extensive Morello solo in Castilian Drums .

After separating from Brubeck, Morello also released records with his Joe Morello Quartet , which also included Greg Kogan (piano), Ralph LaLama (saxophone and flute) and Gary Mazzaroppi (bass): Going Places ( dmp records 1993) and Morello Standard Time (dmp records 1994). Morello interpreted old jazz standards ( Sweet Georgia Brown , Take Five ), but also picked up newer film music ( Mission Impossible ). In addition to his work as a musician, Morello also worked as a drum teacher.

Morello died in Irvington, New Jersey, aged 82.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Obituary at nhpr ( Memento of the original from July 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nhpr.org