Joe Morello

Joe Morello
Joe Morello performing with The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Background information
Birth name	Joe Morello
Born	July 17, 1928 (1928-07-17) (age 81)
Origin	Springfield, Massachusetts, United States
Genres	Jazz Cool jazz West Coast jazz Third stream
Occupations	Drummer Teacher
Instruments	drums
Years active	1955-Present
Labels	Columbia
Associated acts	Paul Desmond Dave Brubeck Eugene Wright
Website	http://www.joemorello.net

Joe Morello (born July 17, 1928^[1]in Springfield, Massachusetts) is a jazz drummer perhaps best known for his twelve and a half-year stint with The Dave Brubeck Quartet. He is frequently noted for playing in the unusual time signatures employed by that group in such pieces as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk".

Morello suffered from impaired vision since he was born, and devoted himself to indoor activities. At six years old he began studying the violin, to feature three years later as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, and again three years later.

At the of age 15 Morello met the violinist Jascha Heifetz and decided that he would never be able to equal Heifetz's "sound", so switched to drumming, first studying with a show drummer named Joe Sefcik and then George Lawrence Stone, author of the noted drum textbook Stick Control for the Snare Drummer. Stone was so impressed with Morello's ideas that he incorporated them into his next book, Accents & Rebounds, which is dedicated to Morello. Later, Morello studied with Radio City Music Hall percussionist Billy Gladstone.

After moving to New York City, Morello worked with numerous notable jazz musicians including Johnny Smith, Tal Farlow, Stan Kenton, Phil Woods, Sal Salvador, Marian McPartland, Jay McShann, Art Pepper, Howard McGhee, and others. After a period playing in McPartland's trio, Morello declined invitations to join both Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey's band, favoring a temporary two-month tour with the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1955. However, Morello remained to play with Brubeck for well over a decade, only departing in 1968. Morello later became an in-demand clinician, teacher and bandleader whose former students include Danny Gottlieb, Max Weinberg, Gary Feldman, Patrick Wante and Rich Galichon.

Dave Brubeck Quartet

Joe has appeared in many Brubeck performances and starred in over 60 Albums. The song he is probably most famous for is Take Five in which he takes a drum solo that slowly releases itself from the rigidness of the 5/4 time signature. Another example of soloing in odd time signatures comes from Unsquare Dance, in which he solos using only sticks on the rim over the 7/4 time signature. At the end of the track, the band can be heard laughing about the results. Other works include Blue Rondo à la Turk, Strange Meadow Lark, and Pick-Up Sticks.

Throughout his career, Morello has appeared on over 120 albums, 60 of which were with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. He has written several drum books, including Master Studies, published by Modern Drummer Publications, and has done an instructional video for Hot Licks titled The Natural Approach to Technique. Morello has won numerous music polls over the years, and was elected to Modern Drummer Magazine's Hall of Fame in 1988.

References

External links

• Joe Morello's official website

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