Tony Marsh RIP

[RogerF]

Tony Marsh has died. He was an important figure on the UK jazz scene and a great drummer. He played in Mike Westbrook's large ensembles and was a well-known contibutor to the British improv scene too. There's a tribute to him on the Jazzwise website here

[sidewinder]

Sad news - RIP. Over recent years, I think I caught him in performance with bands led by Don Weller and Harry Beckett.

[mjazzg]

Very sad news indeed.

I saw him only last month with Evan Parker at the Vortex and he played beautifully. In fact the three of us there all felt his playing the highlight of the evening. I purchased his fairly recent Psi release 'quartet improvisations' that night and I'd recommend it to anyone one with an open musical mind.

We've now lost two great drumming Tony's - Levin and Marsh

[clifford_thornton]

Terrible news. He was great.

[Head Man]

What really sad news. I have fond memories of seeing him play over many years. Oh dear, I'm starting to feel old!

[David Ayers]

RIP

[HolgerFreimutSchrick]

How old was Marsh, when he died?

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Marsh_%28Musiker%29

[Head Man]

  On 4/11/2012 at 3:25 PM, Holger Schrick said:

How old was Marsh, when he died?

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Marsh_%28Musiker%29

The Grim Reaper has reappeared!

[ep1str0phy]

RIP. I've enjoyed his playing over the years--he seemed to have an excellent rapport with scores of UK heavyweights. I'll spin some of his work with Mike Osborne a little later...

[Alexander Hawkins]

Really gutted about this - Tony was a wonderful guy, and of course, it goes without saying, player.

I had the privilege of playing with him several times in Evan Parker's groups. We also used to play as a duo a little bit...and in fact the last time we played was in Austria last year, when I played church organ. Anyone interested should definitely check out a great record he made with Veryan Weston on organ on Evan Parker's Psi label, called 'Stops'.

It was always completely humbling to play with Tony. He had absolutely unflinching commitment to the music at all times - anyone who has ever seen him play will tell you about that 'place' he would seemingly disappear to when the music was really happening...eyes closed, and all bets were off at that point! He knew a lot about sound, but nothing about compromise. He was as interactive as anyone, but no way could you *make* him go to a certain area musically - it was always improvise at all costs.

One of the things which makes this especially shocking is the amazing energy he always had whilst playing; there was never any inkling that anything was wrong, and on the contrary, he could really make you *work* like few others whilst playing. It was only a month or so ago that I saw him in trio with Roscoe Mitchell and John Edwards in one of the most breathtaking gigs I've ever been lucky enough to witness.

Anyway, RIP Tony.

[Chris_T]

I've only just discovered this thread.

I thought people that appreciated Tony Marsh's brilliant playing might like to see a tribute film that we uploaded of Mike Westbrook's 'East Stratford Too-Doo' from the very first performance of Mike's 'On Duke's Birthday'.

East Stratford Too-Doo

We also added another film from the same concert featuring Tony soon after. Unfortunately the film was not complete so in order to have the whole of the piece we've used some stills.

Checking in at Hotel Le Prieure

Tony's cancer was diagnosed only days before he died. A horribly sad end for a superb musician.

He was wonderful to watch as well as to hear as these films show.