Hank Garland: 1930-2004 - A Tribute

Published on Dec 28, 2013
Guitarist Hank Garland performing "Move" with Gary Burton, vibes, Joe Benjamin, bass and Joe Morello, drums.

Joe Morello - In A Big Band Setting

Steven A. Cerra
“The music on this album represents Joe Morello at his peak, and shows off some sides of his playing that have been relatively undocumented. Here was a drummer who was equally at home with small combos and big bands; a drummer who could handle the most complex time signatures and who was equally adept at straight-ahead swing; a drummer who had as much technique as any drummer who has ever lived, but who always put the music first.”
- Rick Mattingly, insert notes to [Joe Morello RCA Bluebird- 9784- 2 RB]

By any standard of measurement and without the need for any hyperbole, Joe Morello was a phenomenal musician who happened to express his genius on drums. And despite the incomprehensible derision he endured from some members of the East Coast Jazz Establishment  - “He didn’t swing.” [?!] - he was an exceptionally brilliant drummer who swung his backside off.

Anyone who has ever had anything to due with the instrument in a Jazz environment, simply understand this - Joe was incomparable.

While we are fortunate to have many recorded examples of his playing in small groups, especially those he made during a three years association with pianist Marian McPartland’s Trio [1953-1956] and those made as a member of the “classic” Dave Brubeck Quartet [1956-1968], sadly, there are too few recordings of his extraordinary drumming in a big band setting.

The following insert notes by Rick Mattingly to Joe Morello [RCA Bluebird- 9784- 2 RB] provides some explanations for this void.

“It was the early '60s, and the hottest jazz group going was the Dave Brubeck Quartet, who had achieved the rare distinction of having a number-one hit on the pop charts. The tune was called "Take Five," and its two main points of interest were the 5/4 time signature and the drum solo, played by Joe Morello. The record epitomized the "cool jazz" of the period, and Morello was the ideal drummer for that era. His style was firmly rooted in the swing and bebop traditions, but Joe was also a schooled performer who had studied with George Lawrence Stone of Boston and Billy Gladstone, snare drummer at Radio City Music Hall. Morello's polished technique, combined with the odd-meter time signatures favored by the Brubeck group, gave his playing an intellectual quality that fit right in on the college campuses where the Brubeck Quartet enjoyed much of their success. With his glasses and generally studious expression, Joe even looked somewhat like a college professor.


Among drummers, Morello was highly respected. When he first arrived in New York in the mid-'50s, his first order of business was to check out all of the local drummers. Stories are still told about how he would approach a drummer and ask about some little technical trick he had seen that drummer pull off. The other drummer, often with a patronizing air, would demonstrate his lick for Joe, who would then say, "I think I see what you're doing. Is this it?' — thereupon playing the drummer's lick back at him faster and cleaner.

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Joe Morello and The Legendary Drummer Marvin Bonessa

by Steven A. Cerra
“At the start of 1956 Brubeck made a personal decision that proved to be a most important change in his group. After three years with the quartet, drummer Joe Dodge decided to leave. Brubeck took a chance by hiring Joe Morello. Actually, little risk accrued from this decision as Morello was a masterful choice as his polished virtuosity and marked creativity made an immediate contribution to the quartet.

Described by some critics as a sort of purgatory for jazz drummers, Morello was to absolutely flourish in the confines of this supposedly ‘unswinging’ ensemble, especially with its high visibility, daring improvisations and later experimentation with odd or unusual time signatures.

All these factors helped launch Morello to a position of preeminence in the world of jazz drumming and with good cause. The leap into the limelight was no concoction of media hype but well-deserved fame for an exceptional musician.

With the Brubeck quartet, this powerful young workhorse on drums continued to have the same effect on audiences, but now in larger concert halls rather than in small clubs. Soon Morello was no longer a discovery, but a known commodity, emulated by a generation of young percussionists. “
- Ted Gioia, The San Francisco Scene in the 1950’s West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California 1945-1960,  [p.96 and p.98, paraphrase].

In 1938, the legendary photographer Alfred Stieglitz was presented with one of the 500 copies of Ansel Adams’ photographic masterpiece – Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail.

Upon receiving this gift, Stieglitz declared: “I am an idolater of perfect workmanship and this is perfect workmanship.”

I, too, am an idolater of the perfect workmanship that is to be found in the drumming of Joe Morello as primarily exemplified in the many recordings he made with the Dave Brubeck Quartet from 1956-68. Sadly, Joe made too few recordings outside the DBQ including those under his own name.

Sadly, too, none of the major drum anthologies contain a chapter on Joe nor to my knowledge has Joe been the subject of a biography.


So to compensate for this omission, in the coming weeks, the editorial staff at JazzProfiles thought it might be fun to compile some selected writings about Joe and feature them as postings on the blog.

The following excerpts are from the chapter on pianist Marian McPartland’s trio in  bassist Bill Crow’s From Broadway to Birdland: Scene from a Jazz Life [Oxford]. Bill’s reminiscence highlights three of the qualities that I most admired about Joe: [1] his prodigious technique, [2] his well-developed sense of humor which he often exhibited in his playing, and [3] his humility.

read more: http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com.br/2015/02/a.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+JazzProfiles+(Jazz+Profiles)

Legendary Jazz drummer Joe Morello dies at 82 in Irvington home

IRVINGTON  — Legendary jazz drummer Joe Morello, whose virtuosity and command of odd time signatures made him an integral part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet on such classic recordings as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," has died at age 82.

AP FILE PHOTO

In this Jan. 5, 1966 file photo, drummer Joe Morello, a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, performs at a jazz festival in Boston.

Family members said Morello died Saturday at his home in northern New Jersey. A cause of death was not immediately available.
Brubeck said the loss of his friend "came as a complete shock to me."

"Many people consider the rhythm section of (bassist) Eugene Wright and Joe Morello in my quartet as being one of the most consistent, swinging rhythm sections in jazz," Brubeck said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. "Drummers worldwide remember Joe as one of the greatest drummers we have known."

Morello's decision to join Brubeck's quartet in 1956 paved the way for the leader's experiments in unusual rhythms on a series of groundbreaking "Time" albums in the late '50s and early '60s that earned popular and critical acclaim.

"Joe was a pioneer in odd time signatures and a vital part of the "Time" series the Quartet made at Columbia Records," said Brubeck. "His drum solo on 'Take Five' is still being heard around the world."
Brubeck got the inspiration for "Take Five" after hearing Morello playing a 5/4 beat while warming up backstage before a concert with alto saxophonist Paul Desmond.

The pianist asked Desmond to write a melody in 5/4 time for a tune that would feature a Morello drum solo. Brubeck suggested combining two themes that Desmond wrote to create "Take Five," which became a surprise Top 40 hit on jukeboxes and one of the best-known jazz recordings.

Raised in Springfield, Mass., with impaired vision from birth, Morello initially studied the violin before becoming a drummer in his teen years.

He eventually made his way to New York City, where he played with many leading jazz musicians over the years, and first came to prominence for his work as part of pianist Marian McPartland's Hickory House Trio in the early '50s.

Complete on: http://www.northjersey.com/news/essex/031311_Legendary_Jazz_drummer_Joe_Morello_dies_at_82.html

Excerpted from "The Art of Playing Brushes" DVD.

The Art of Playing with Brushes is the most comprehensive, definitive and unprecedented volume on the topic ever produced.

Living legends Billy Hart, Eddie Locke, Joe Morello, Charli Persip and Ben Riley along with modern brush masters Adam Nussbaum and Steve Smith demonstrate and discuss their distinctive drumming styles then all perform the same set of medium to up-tempo swing, ballads and Latin tunes to compare and contrast their unique approaches and interpretations.

This deluxe addition to every drummers library offers a thorough and graphic exploration of the art from a variety of historical, technical and musical perspectives.
More information at HudsonMusic.com.