Iconic Jazz Drummer Joe Morello Dies at 82

By Spinner Editors Posted Mar 14th 2011 01:16PM

Joe Morello, best known best for his work with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, has died. He was 82.

The legendary drummer died March 12 at his home in New Jersey. Although his family has not revealed the cause of death at this time, people close to Morello have already written a special message in memoriam on his website, saying, "His impact on the world of music and on all those whose lives he touched will live forever."

Throughout his 60-plus-year career, Morello performed on more than 120 records -- 60 of which were with the Dave Brubeck Quartet -- and was named best drummer for five consecutive years by Downbeat Magazine.

Born on July 27, 1928, in Springfield, Mass., with partial vision, Morello started playing the violin at age 6 and was a featured soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra by the time he was 12. After three more years of violin, however, Morello traded in the strings for a drum kit. Studying with a local teacher, who encouraged him to study jazz drumming, Morello learned the genre of music among his future contemporaries in the Boston area like guitarist Sal Salvador and sax player Phil Woods.

In the 1950s, he played with the likes of Jimmy Raney, Tal Farlow and Glen Gray, and he was briefly a member of Stan Kenton's progressive jazz orchestra. Morello joined a trio with U.K. pianist Marian McPartland and released two albums with them, including 'Jazz at the Hickory House' and 'The Marian McPartland Trio.' After leaving the trio in 1956, Morello took a two-week gig with the Dave Brubeck Quartet after the band's drummer quit and remained with the group for more than 12 years.

The group disbanded in 1967, and Morello became a teacher, holding various "drum clinics" to teach budding drummers like American session drummer Danny Gottlieb and Max Weinberg. He even produced a number of instructional books and videos.

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Comments

(8)

Monday 14 March

By paul m

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I think you need to actually learn what the word"iconic" means. Somebody that nobody really ever hear of is NOT an icon. I 'm thinking if you make your living with words you should actually know what they mean.

By Harry Singleton

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You`re a fine one to talk about using words you don`t know the meaning of. Just because you never "hear of him" doesn`t mean no one else hasn`t. Most likely you never heard of Dave Brubeck, either. It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and erase all doubt.

By maria1963

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No, most of the people reading this including myself have not heard of this man. I bet if you ask my dad who is 80 if he's heard of him he has and might just consider this man an "icon". You need to relax dude.

By MusicFan

Are you kidding? Every drummer from Alex VanHalen to Anton Figg (Lletterman Show) knows who Joe Morello is and was. Most every musician on any instrument knows who Joe Morello is and was. Ever hear of 5/4 time? Were you born stupid or did you study?

By AL

Drummers the world over, especially jazz drummers, not to mention fans, have all heard of Joe Morello. And not just heard of him: he's considered one of the finest, most technically brilliant, creative and influential jazz drummers ever. If you haven't heard of him, it's not the fault of the author of the article. Get some records and find out for yourself why he truly is seen as iconic in the jazz world!

By Dean J. Borth, Sr.

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Simply the best jazz drummer of all times. I had the pleasure of seeing Morello perform with the Brubeck Quartet during the college tours of the late 50's & early 60's.

RIP, Joe.

By WaughMan

Iconic is the only word to discribe Joe Morello! He introduced the world to 5/4 time. I bet you don't know what that is either Paul M!

By Chas B

I'd give the credit for the introduction of 5/4 to his bandmate Paul Desmond, but Brubeck's band was great in no small part because of Joe Morello. I was 3 years old when Time Out was released, and it was still on the charts when I started kindergarten two years later. Pretty unusual for an instrumental release.

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