Dodo Marmarosa: the man and the music

[BillF]

Any anecdotes or views on the music or recordings of Dodo?

I've always liked this story:

A couple invited Dodo to stay for Christmas in their home. They left him alone in the house while they went out to buy groceries. On return, they found all their furniture on the lawn. Dodo explained: "Well, man, I had to move it out because all the furniture was bugging the sound of the piano."

Edited January 5, 2008 by BillF

[JohnS]

I like Dodo, the earlier stuff especially.

Wasn't there a story about a green bath?

[ghost of miles]

BillF, do you have the Uptown Dodo? A mid-1990s interview with him in the booklet, which is a pretty incredible read for any fan of Dodo's.

[Big Beat Steve]

ANY Dodo is fine, particularly his Dial and Atomic masters and transcriptions reissued on the Spotlite and Raretone LPs in the 80s.

Ghost, does the Uptown release you mention include anything not previously issued/reissued elsewhere? Or would I have to buy the CD for the booklet alone?

[jazzbo]

Buy the Uptown for the music! (As well). Yes to your question.

There has been a European release of the Argo trios. . .too bad we'll likely never see an American one. Is there anything else that would make a good fit for inclusion in a (possible? wishlist only?) Mosaic Select?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Of course, I have "Jug and Dodo" - and like it very much. Also some Dodo with Bird. That's not bad

MG

[ghost of miles]

Ghost, does the Uptown release you mention include anything not previously issued/reissued elsewhere?

Yes--just to elaborate a bit on Jazzbo's answer, it's all previously unreleased live material from Pittsburgh, circa late-1950s/early-1960s.

[alocispepraluger102]

jug and dodo here

[Chuck Nessa]

jug and dodo here

fine, but not a really good exhibition of his talents.

[paul secor]

There's a short recorded intro on the Uptown where he refers to himself as Mike Marmarosa. Makes one wonder how he felt about the nickname he acquired.

[Guest Bill Barton]

There's an excellent article on Dodo Marmarosa written by Trevor Tolley in the new CODA (January/February 2008, Issue 337).

Some extremely rare photos are included.

Edited January 9, 2008 by Bill Barton

[bichos]

you can see dodo marmarosa in the film "thrill of a romance" (released 1945) with the tommy dorsey orchestra. you can forget the whole film (with bathing beauty esther williams, van johnson and singer lauritz melchior ) even the shots with dorsey are not special. (buddy defranco was also in the band) but you can see dodo for a few seconds standing behind a piano like a stature when dorsey´s (film) daughter is playing and singing. another scene is so badly cut and filmed (battle of the balcony jive) (dodo´s composition) you see only his hands playing. buddy rich is featured here. a very boppish composition based on "i got rhythm". the soundtrack and filming was in july - september 1944. the soundtrack is avaiable on a rhino cd "tommy & jimmy dorsey swingin´ in hollywood" from 1998. there are also some stories with defranco and marmarosa (they were roommates) in the book "tommy dorsey-livin´ in a great big way" by peter j. levinson (da capo 2005).

and here´s an anectode with dodo:

Trombonist Paul O'Connor, now the Secretary-Treasurer of Local 427-721 in Tampa, played with the bands of Bobby Sherwood, Jerry Wald, Hal McIntyre and Charlie Spivak, among others. While he was with Spivak in Williamsport (Penn.) in the mid-1950s, the late Dodo Marmarosa was hired to fill the piano chair. Dodo came down from his home in Pittsburgh, and without fanfare and only a few hellos, sat down at the piano. After a couple of sets, Spivak noticed that Dodo hadn't opened the piano book. Dodo was playing flawlessly, but Spivak warned him that the next set would contain a complex Manny Albam chart that he might want to look over. Dodo looked up at Spivak and said, "Don't worry, Charlie, I won't need the music." He ran a chromatic scale up the piano. "Either it goes up..." he quickly reversed the scale, "...or it goes down." The whole band laughed, Spivak tapped off the tune, and Dodo played it perfectly. Paul said that during Dodo's tenure with the band, the piano book stayed in its box, and Paul never heard any clinkers from the piano.

more here: http://www.local802afm.org/publication_ent...xEntry=24526170

keep boppin´

marcel

[AllenLowe]

one interesting thing is that his early playing clearly predicts the "modal" approach to blowing - in the way it tending to be more "horizontal" than "vertical" in its arcs (Sangrey's gonna hate me for that one) - fascinating musician -

[alocispepraluger102]

Of course, I have "Jug and Dodo" - and like it very much. Also some Dodo with Bird. That's not bad

MG

me too-alltime favs.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

tending to be more "horizontal" than "vertical" in its arcs

Do you mean that he concentrated more on inventing melodies rather than harmonic combinations?

MG

[michel1969]

Of course, I have "Jug and Dodo" - and like it very much. Also some Dodo with Bird. That's not bad

MG

me too-alltime favs.

Dodo is one of my favourite piano player. (as you can imagine)I love all his recordings on trio and with Bird. His very short solo on "Relaxing at Camarillo" is one of the most beautiful thing i ever heard ; gives me chicken skin every time i m listening to it !! all is condensated in few bars... and listen how he "voices" on the bass solo... its exeptionnal ;.. Dodo has a very bright , open sound It has been said that he has an "ultra classical" or "beyond classical" approach, and i agree with that . He is always relaxed. he was a creative and brilliant, and i suggest anyone to listen his trio late 40's recordings. espacially Cosmo Street and Dairy Departs are among my favourites... IMO the best way to definite Dodo's playing is "dreamer" Did was a dreamer anf he played like that.

[michel1969]

Dodo if you read french

[Big Beat Steve]

Merci, Michel!

[BillF]

Tres interessant!

[AllenLowe]

"Do you mean that he concentrated more on inventing melodies rather than harmonic combinations?"

more that he tends to extend the line in the direction of the scale rather than going to the the chord - a different kind of resolution based more on the scale - beboppers tended to play in certain kind of arcs that went up and down (if one is looking at a sheet of music); Dodo's playing swept along more continuously -

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

"Do you mean that he concentrated more on inventing melodies rather than harmonic combinations?"

more that he tends to extend the line in the direction of the scale rather than going to the the chord - a different kind of resolution based more on the scale - beboppers tended to play in certain kind of arcs that went up and down (if one is looking at a sheet of music); Dodo's playing swept along more continuously -

Thanks Allen; I think I get that.

MG

[brownie]

New Article on Dodo Marmarosa in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

[paul secor]

Thanks for posting that link, brownie.

And a lot more information is available in the liner notes of the Uptown release. This might have been mentioned earlier in the thread - haven't reread the entire thread.

[Stereojack]

Thanks for the link - a nice article about a forgotten giant.

I just checked at Amazon, and the Uptown CD "Pittsburgh 1958" is not out of print.

[Ted O'Reilly]

Thanks for the link - a nice article about a forgotten giant.

I just checked at Amazon, and the Uptown CD "Pittsburgh 1958" is not out of print.

The bassist on that Marmarosa recording is Pittsburgh stalwart Dan Mastri, who joined up with the Saints & Sinners sextet of Vic Dickenson and Red Richards in the mid-60s. They had a nice little circuit of gigs including Toronto, where Dan met a nice lady and decided to stay here.

Never a flashy soloist (he had a tendency to speed up in solos), Dan was a solid band player, working often with Jim Galloway. He's on the CD I produced (with Jim) that features Vic Dickenson at a Toronto club in 1973.

Mastri died in the past year, and I never knew his exact age. He told me once that his first professional (paid!) gig was on the night that Prohibition was repealed, which would make it December 5, 1933. If he was even 15 then, he would have been around 90 when he died.