Martin Fierro (saxophonist)

Martin Fierro (January 18, 1942 – March 13, 2008) was a saxophonist who played with the Sir Douglas Quintet, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jerry Garcia.

Music career

Fierro was born in Mexico in 1942 and grew up in El Paso, Texas. He taught himself how to play saxophone and as a teenager participated in rock bands. He concentrated on jazz in his early 20s. He toured Mexico with a band, then moved to San Francisco and joined Mother Earth, a blues rock group led by Tracy Nelson. He became a member of the rock band the Sir Douglas Quintet in 1968. He also played with Quicksilver Messenger Service and James Cotton.^[1]

In 1971s, Fierro played saxophone and flute on Hooteroll?, an instrumental, free-form album by guitarist Jerry Garcia and keyboard player Howard Wales.^[2] Three years later he joined another project by Garcia known as Legion of Mary. Like Garcia's Grateful Dead, Legion of Mary combined rock and blues with long improvisation.^[3] He appeared on the Dead's album Wake of the Flood in 1973 and toured with them that year.^[4]

In 1988, Fierro joined the Bay Area Jam Band Zero alongside founding members Steve Kimock, Bobby Vega, and Greg Anton. The band is generally regarded as one of the foundational examples that pioneered the jam band style of playing. His tenure with the band would garner praise and even more affirmation of his improvisational prowess. In later years he played with the jam bands the String Cheese Incident and the Dark Star Orchestra.

He was diagnosed with cancer and died in 2008.^[1]

Discography

With James Cotton

• 1968 Cut You Loose!

With Mother Earth

• 1968 Living with the Animals
• 1968 Revolution

With Sir Douglas Quintet

• 1969 Mendocino
• 1970 1+1+1=4
• 1973 Texas Tornado

With Quicksilver Messenger Service

• 1970 What About Me
• 1986 Peace by Piece

With Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead/Legion of Mary

• 1971 Hooteroll?
• 1973 Wake of the Flood
• 1974 From the Mars Hotel
• 2004 Pure Jerry: Keystone Berkeley, September 1, 1974
• 2005 Garcia Plays Dylan
• 2005 Legion of Mary: Absolute Mary
• 2013 Garcia Live, Vol. 3: Dec 14-15, 1974 Northwest Tour

With Merl Saunders

• 1973 Live at Keystone
• 1997 Keepers
• 2004 Keystone Berkeley: September 1, 1974

With Zero

• 1987 Nothin' Goes Here
• 1991 Live: Go Hear Nothin'
• 1994 Chance in a Million
• 1997 Zero Zero
• 1998 Nothin' Lasts Forever
• 2002 Double Zero Zero

With the String Cheese Incident

• 2004 On the Road: 12-08-03 Redwood City, California^[5]

References