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Welcome to MY JAZZ PAGE
Last Updated 01/19/2003 1:45 PM
RECENT
NEWS:
My father, Danny Conn, (b. June 13, 1928) hails from the
East Liberty section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On April 20, 2002, he was
informed that he has been elected to the Pittsburgh Jazz Society’s “HALL OF
FAME”
Congratulations, Dad, we all love you very much.
Carmella, Cheryl, Dante, David, Michael, Vincent, Elyssa,
Lea and Jay “Bird”.
In addition, on April 23, 2002, Danny and Carmella (Claire) celebrated
their 50th wedding anniversary. Congratulations from all of your
children, grandchildren and great grandchild.
Another wonderful Article about DAD.
http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/20020922conn0922fnp3.asp
Excerpt from http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/20020524jazz2.asp
SUNDAY
Foster's Holiday Inn Select,
Oakland
A few days after thyroid surgery, Danny Conn is onstage at Foster's, blowing his horn like the rent is due.
Every Sunday night Tony Mowod and the Pittsburgh Jazz Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of jazz, host a concert that shines a light on some of the area's best musicians. The concerts are always free, the food's good, beverages cold and the patrons friendly and attentive.
On this night, Conn, performing with Chuck Spadafore's Little Big Band, is blowing that tattered trumpet the way he's always done. It is what he'll probably do until the good Lord comes calling and someone can kneel at his gravesite like the day his good friend Howard E. "Hud" Davies, former drummer for Benny Goodman, died and Conn played "Taps" and Goodman's theme song, "Goodbye."
The fiery, sequential notes Conn once created have been replaced with lyrical emotional declarations; three notes are followed by two and one.
"It's tough," he says with a smile. "I'm trying to get my chops together. They're not what they used to be." He's a jazz legend -- just two weeks ago, May 12, he was inducted into the Pittsburgh Jazz Society Hall of Fame.
In Atlantic City in the early 1960s, Conn performed in more than 50 concerts with Stevie Wonder and The Supremes.
Later at Atlantic City's 500 Club, he backed up Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. An old sketch of the "Rat Pack" can be found hanging from the walls at his home as a wonderful reminder.
"For me it was always about the music and my family," he says. "No matter where I was performing, I was always home for Christmas. Years ago I made a commitment to this music, and that's all I've ever done."
Now, he purses his lips on the horn's mouthpiece, then launches into "Dizzy Atmosphere," a song made famous by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.
Performances 7 to 11 p.m. Sunday. No cover. 412-682-6200.
Web Site: www.pittsburghjazz.org
EAST
LIBERTY GALLERY OF STARS
The East Liberty section of
Pittsburgh has produced many notable individuals whose talents and
accomplishments have enriched us all.
Here is a list of some of
those involved in the Jazz and Music world.
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RON ANTHONY - Jazz Guitarist |
ERROLL GARNER -
Jazz Pianist, Composer |
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DANNY CONN – Trumpeter |
DONNA GRECO - Pianist |
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CARLO GALUZZO – Jazz Saxaphone |
NELSON HARRISON - Jazz Trombonist |
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DODO MARMAROSA - Jazz Pianist |
LORIN MAAZEL - World Renowned Symphony Maestro |
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JERRY BETTERS - Orchestra Leader, Singer |
AL MARSICO - Musician, Orchestra Leader |
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BOBBY CARDILLO - Jazz Pianist |
SAL Le PERTCHE - Big Band Trumpeter |
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HARRY CARDILLO - Jazz Pianist |
AHMAD JAMAL - Jazz
Pianist |
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FRANK CUNIMONDO – Pianist |
PATRICIA PRATTIS JENNINGS - Principal Keyboard - Pittsburgh
Symphony |
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CORNELL COOPER - Singer |
PETE HENDERSON - Jazz Trumpeter |
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CHARLES
WAKEFIELD CADMAN - Composer, Organist |
ART NANCE - Jazz Saxophonist |
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BUDDY DeCARLO - Singer |
JIMMY PUPA - Jazz Musician |
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NICK DeLUCA - Singer |
PAUL ROSS - Violinist, Pittsburgh Symphony |
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THE DelMONACOS (August, Del, & Pat) - Musicians |
HAROLD ROUSE - Organist, Magician |
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BILLY
ECKSTINE - Singer and Band Leader |
DAKOTA
STATON - Jazz Singer |
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ALICE EISNER - Singer - Character Actress |
BILLY STRAYHORN - Arranger, Composer, Pianist |
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ART FARRAR - Big Band Leader |
MARY LOU WILLIAMS
- Jazz Pianist |
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LINTON GARNER - Jazz Pianist, Band Leader |
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Other Musicians from The Greater Pittsburgh Area.
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BOBBY NEGRI |
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JOE DALLAS |
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Some information provided by the East Liberty Chamber of
Commerce.
Please send your photos or additions to me at [email protected]
Dodo Marmarosa - Up in Dodo's
Room
The subtitle of this CD is
"The complete Dial sessions: 1946-1947 and features one of the most
brilliant pianists to rise out of the Bop era. There were not many players who
could work with the legendary Charlie "Bird" Parker for any length of
time due to Parker's overpowering ideas. No matter how good you were, Parker
was always better, but Dodo (Michael) Marmarosa was one musician who played
piano for the Bird for over two years but did not record that frequently in
order to get exposure. These sessions feature Dodo in trio settings with Harry
Babasin on cello and Jackie Mills - drums, some solo piano performances, two
sextet dates with Howard McGhee as leader and one session with the Charlie
Parker Septet which included Miles Davis and Lucky Thompson. It is in the solo
and trio performances that one gets to hear the brilliance and highly original
bop influenced lines that made most of his contemporaries feel like an an
anticlimax.
Pianist Dodo Marmarosa was
the most fascinating of the younger musicians who worked with the Barnet band
during the early 1940’s. Dodo possessed a dazzling technique and a completely
original approach to jazz piano. Another emerging pianist, composer and
arranger, Ralph Burns, created a stunning framework for Dodo’s brilliant piano
in October 1943 with "The Moose". Marmarosa’s solo is perfectly
integrated within the big band frame. Dodo who later worked with Tommy Dorsey,
Artie Shaw, Boyd Raeburn and Charlie Parker was one of the first white jazz
musicians to be recognized as a bop innovator.
From Liner Notes http://www.proper-records.co.uk/boxsets/pb10info.htm
Also, see Cover “Jugs
and Dodo”
VERY SAD NEWS: MICHAEL “DODO” MARMAROSA PASSED AWAY LAST SEPTEMBER
IN PITTSBURGH.
I will always regret missing out on going to the Vet’s Center to
see him the last time I was in Pgh.
Farewell DODO, I’ll miss you.
Obituary: Michael "Dodo" Marmarosa / Legendary jazz pianist
Friday, September 20, 2002
By Nate Guidry, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Michael "Dodo" Marmarosa, a piano wunderkind who
was for about a decade one of the most sought-after pianists in the history of
jazz, died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack. He was 76. For the past few
years, Mr. Marmarosa was a resident at the VA Medical Center in Lincoln
Lemington, where he occasionally played piano and organ for other residents and
guests.
On the day of his death, his sister, Doris Shepherd of
Glenshaw, said he played a small organ on the fourth floor of the building
before returning to his room because he wasn't feeling well. "He was truly one of the legendary
bebop players," said Tony Mowod, WDUQ radio host and founder of the
Pittsburgh Jazz Society. "He was one of the many Pittsburghers who have
made us proud to be associated with the music."
From his boyhood days growing up on Paulson Avenue in
Larimer, Mr. Marmarosa used the entire keyboard, all 88 keys. Sometimes he
played off the keyboard, creating imaginary keys in the wind, finishing the
phrase in his mind. He practiced every
day for hours, alternating hands until his left hand was as strong as his
right. Within months of starting to play, he was playing Bach for fun.
In 1941, the Johnny "Scat" Davis Orchestra came to
Pittsburgh with an opening for a piano player. Even as a kid, Mr. Marmarosa had
a reputation in local jazz circles, and some local musicians suggested that
Davis snatch up the young pianist, so he hit the road. He was 15. After a few months, the orchestra broke up.
But Mr. Marmarosa and a few others hooked up with Gene Krupa's band. Mr. Marmarosa then joined Charlie Barnet's
big band. During that time, the Barnet band recorded "The Moose" and
"Strollin,' " the first of dozens of recordings Mr. Marmarosa would
be part of over the next few years.
During a tour in New York, one of Barnet's trumpeters got sick and was
replaced temporarily by Dizzy Gillespie. One afternoon, Gillespie invited Mr.
Marmarosa to his apartment to meet a rising star named Charlie Parker.
In early 1944, at age 18, Mr. Marmarosa left Barnet's band
to join Tommy Dorsey. The band featured a quartet including Mr. Marmarosa,
Buddy De Franco, Sidney Block and Buddy Rich. For Mr. Marmarosa, playing with
Dorsey was another in a series of dead-end jobs made tolerable by the
opportunity to work regularly with Rich.
"Buddy Rich was a great drummer, the greatest,"
Mr. Marmarosa told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1998. "The band had
great cohesion and a lot of spontaneity."
In November 1944, Mr. Marmarosa left Dorsey and joined Artie
Shaw's band, which was considered one of the best big bands in the country.
Shaw, like Dorsey, featured a small combo from the band, known as the
Grammercy-Five. With it, Mr. Marmarosa found more opportunity to improvise, and
the group made several popular recordings. The group also featured guitarist
Barney Kessel and fellow Pittsburgher and trumpeter Roy Eldridge.
What all these great musicians heard in Mr. Marmarosa was,
first of all, discipline, and beyond that, an unparalleled capacity for speed
and musical tapestry. Mr. Marmarosa marched to the sound of his own drums, and
the beat was bebop. That became clear
to Shaw one night in some obscure club in the Midwest. The small crowd kept
requesting "Frenesi," a Shaw arrangement. The band played the song
twice during the first set and opened the second set with it. Mr. Marmarosa
yelled to Shaw that if he had to play the song again, he was leaving. Shaw
called for "Frenesi" one more time, and Mr. Marmarosa walked off the
bandstand and drove back to Pittsburgh.
After a few weeks in Pittsburgh, Mr. Marmarosa moved to Los
Angeles and began hiring out on a free-lance basis, primarily as
"house" pianist for Lyle Griffin's Atomic record company. During his
tenure there, he recorded such classics as "A Night in Tunisia,"
"Moose the Mooche" and "Yardbird Suite," working with such
luminaries as Lester Young and Charlie Parker.
He created his own keyboard vocabulary, attacking the piano with force
and articulation, creating intensity and climaxes, alternating between hands as
if the keys were an extension of his fingers.
In 1947, Esquire magazine published its fourth annual jazz
poll. For an "All-American" jazz band, the critics chose several
musicians who would dominate the jazz scene for the next 30 years: Miles Davis,
Sonny Stitts, Milt Jackson, Sarah Vaughn, Pittsburgh bassist Ray Brown and the
"new star" on piano, 21-year-old Dodo Marmarosa.
In the mid-1950s, Mr. Marmarosa was drafted into the Army.
Military life had an emotional effect on him and he was discharged after
spending several months in the hospital.
Upon his return to Pittsburgh, he made no attempt to
re-enter the national jazz scene. He worked briefly at the Midway Lounge in
Downtown Pittsburgh, where he and close friend Danny Conn recorded
"Pittsburgh, 1958." "He
was like a big brother to me," said Conn, who regularly visited Mr.
Marmarosa at the VA center. "He was a very humble musician. He was also a
genius at the piano."
In the late '60s, he went to work at the Colony Restaurant
in Mt. Lebanon. Mr. Marmarosa performed there until diabetes forced him into
retirement.
Mr. Marmarosa is survived by another sister, Audrey
Radinovic of Glenshaw. The family requested a private funeral and burial.
SOME OTHER PHOTOS AND LINKS
Eric Kloss, Steve Rudolph and Gerald Veasley
Playing for a packed house at the Lucky 7 in Harrisburg, Pa.
Photo courtesy of Steve Rudolph Collection – http://www.steverudolph.com/
Joe Negri and his Quartet At Carnegie Lecture
Hall in PGH. (circa ?)
Mr. Hate's page Some great jazz players in this pic.
See and Hear Ron in
a few of these video's
Visitors since 01 Jan 2002
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