Rare And Obscure Argo Recordings (X)

Dodo Marmarosa

Dodo's Back! 

Michael "Dodo" Marmarosa, born Pittsburgh, December 12, 1925, died September 17, 2002, jazz piano player, a link between swing and bebop, recorded with (among others) Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Lucky Thompson, Barney Kessel, Charlie Barnet and Slim Gaillard; retired from music, early sixties; died 76.

That's what you surely will read in many books about him.

Of course, Dodo disappeared from music when he was only 36; but he'll forever remain as one essential link between the swing era and bebop. Maybe he was one of the founders of bebop. Just a great musician.

Coming from an Italian family, he started his professionnal career while he was in his teens; please, note the fact that he came from Pittsburgh, a town who gave jazz some of its greatest piano players: Erroll Garner, Earl Hines. But Dodo's main influence certainly was Teddy Wilson. It's obvious in his playing, even if there are some Garner's phrases, too. Dodo can be compared to musicians like Hank Jones, or even Tommy Flanagan, or Clyde Hart; they allways were just between swing and bop, just between Wilson, or Tatum, or Chittison, and Bud. 

This session is one of the last (and maybe the last one) Dodo ever recorded. This happened May 9 and 10,1961; the trio includes Richard Evans, bass, and Marshall Thompson, drums. And Dodo plays great, of course; some standards that were often played by bop musicians. Just one of the major jazz piano players. *Jean-Marie Juif (amazon.com)*

Dodo very obviously found himself back in the days of superior musicianship, and I hasten to add,a superior instrument upon which to work his magic. The music herein, standards and some originals, displays clearly the broadening.Dodo's playing has undergone since his early days. The chords are "fatter", the nuances grater, the feeling deeper, mellower! Here is a mature pianist! He is not an experimentor or really an innovator, although perhaps he once was. He is not an "I leave you far behind I'm hio" modernist. Nor is he a "Let's stick our snouts in the mud and dig the gospel" funky soul proponent. Hi is a solid musician with impeccable taste, flowing, easily imperterabably, with swing uppermost in his mind. This album undoubtedly will help re-establish Dodo Marmarosa as the great pianist he is. There are many to whom his name means nothing. There are more who remember. *Joe Segal (liner notes)*

A wonderful later album from pianist Dodo Marmarosa — quite possibly his greatest record ever! The set's an obscure "comeback" date recorded in Chicago for Chess in the early 60s — a trio session with Richard Evans on bass and Marshall Thompson on drums — both working very gently behind Marmarosa's lead. Dodo sounds wonderful here — slightly broken down and world-weary, but in a way that makes for quite a change both from his earlier recordings, and from the standard piano session of the time. There's nothing too polished here, and there's always a strong sense of "voice" on the tracks — a quality that speaks volumes with a short amount of effort — and which has really made this one a favorite of ours over the years! Titles include "Tracy's Blues", "Mellow Mood", "On Green Dolphin Street", and "Cottage For Sale".  *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

1 - Mellow Mood

(Dodo Marmarosa)

2 - Cottage For Sale

(Larry Conley, Willard Robison)

3 - April Played The Fiddle

(Johnny Burke, James V. Monaco)

4 - Everything Happeds To Me

(Tom Adair, Matt Dennis)

5 - On Green Dolphin Street

(Bronisław Kaper, Ned Washington)

6 - Why Do I Love You?

(Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern)

7 - I Thought About You

(Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Mercer)

8 - Me And My Shadow

(Dave Dreyer, Al Jolson, Billy Rose)

9 - Tracy's Blues

(Dodo Marmarosa)

10 - You Call It Madness

(Russ Columbo, Con Conrad, Alain DuBois, Paul Gregory)

Michael "Dodo" Marmarosa (piano), Richard Evans (bass), Marshall Thompson (drums).

Recorded at Ter Mar Recording Studios, Chicago, Illinois, May 9 and 10, 1961.