Joe Morello

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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, Patrick Wante and Rich Galichon.

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.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Dave Brubeck Quartet performing "Take 5" with Morello on drums, YouTube

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