34 Facts About Dodo Marmarosa

Michael "Dodo" Marmarosa was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

Dodo Marmarosa moved to Los Angeles in 1945, where he became increasingly interested and involved in the emerging bebop scene.

Dodo Marmarosa began performing much less frequently, and had a presence only locally for around a decade.

Friends and fellow musicians had commented from an early stage that Dodo Marmarosa was an unusual character.

Dodo Marmarosa made comeback recordings in the early 1960s, but soon retreated to Pittsburgh, where he played occasionally into the early 1970s.

Dodo Marmarosa was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 12,1925.

Dodo Marmarosa was the middle of three children, between sisters Audrey and Doris, and grew up in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

Dodo Marmarosa received the uncomplimentary nickname "Dodo" as a child because of his large head, short body, and bird-like nose.

Dodo Marmarosa received classical music lessons, but was influenced by the jazz playing of Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and others after fellow pianist Erroll Garner, four years Marmarosa's elder, introduced him to their music.

Dodo Marmarosa practiced a lot, until his left and right hands were equally strong.

Dodo Marmarosa began his professional career around 1941, joining the Johnnie "Scat" Davis orchestra at the age of 15 or 16.

Dodo Marmarosa was first mentioned in the national jazz press the following year, appearing in Down Beat magazine for his playing at a jam session.

Dodo Marmarosa then moved to Charlie Barnet's big band, where he stayed from October 1943 to March 1944.

Dodo Marmarosa's recording debut was with Barnet in 1943; they recorded "The Moose", a track described by Gunther Schuller as "a veritable masterpiece" on which the 17-year-old pianist played an original blend of nascent bebop and Count Basie-style minimalism.

Dodo Marmarosa recorded some trio tracks with Krupa and DeFranco in 1944.

Dodo Marmarosa soon joined clarinetist Artie Shaw, with whom he stayed until November 1945, as part of a big band and Shaw's small band, the Gramercy Five.

Dodo Marmarosa made his first recordings as leader in 1946, with trio tracks that included Ray Brown on bass and Jackie Mills on drums, and in a quartet with saxophonist Lucky Thompson added.

Dodo Marmarosa recorded his only vocal track, "I've Got News for You", in the same year.

In 1947 Dodo Marmarosa led a trio session for Dial with Harry Babasin on cello and Jackie Mills on drums; these were the first pizzicato jazz cello recordings.

Dodo Marmarosa practiced an incredible amount of hours, often all day long.

Dodo Marmarosa would eat at the piano with one hand and keep playing with the other.

Dodo Marmarosa heard things in his head that he wasn't able to play and it frustrated him.

Dodo Marmarosa toured again with "Scat" Davis and Shaw.

Dodo Marmarosa left Shaw's band for the final time during one concert after they had twice played Shaw's hit, "Frenesi", Marmarosa had threatened to leave if Shaw called for it again, and the leader had done so after the audience requested a third playing.

In 1952, two years after marrying, Dodo Marmarosa moved with his wife and their two daughters to California.

Dodo Marmarosa's ex-wife remarried and asked him to allow her to change the children's names in exchange for not having to pay her any more money; following the advice of his parents, he signed the documents.

Back in Pittsburgh, where he played locally from March 1956, Dodo Marmarosa continued to be erratic, sometimes disappearing for weeks at a time, and giving his money away: "It was like he was on the road to self-destruction", commented trumpeter Danny Conn.

Dodo Marmarosa departed for California by car in 1960, but problems with the vehicle halted him in Chicago.

Promoter Joe Segal organized an Argo Records session for him there, but Dodo Marmarosa departed suddenly and the recording was delayed until the following year.

Dodo Marmarosa just drank an awful lot, shot and a beer all day long.

Dodo Marmarosa sometimes played piano in the family's basement or for other residents at the hospital.

Dodo Marmarosa died of a heart attack on September 17,2002, in a veterans' hospital in Pittsburgh.

Dodo Marmarosa combined advanced chordal and scalar elements with graceful rhythmic phrasing.

In some of his 1944 playing, Dodo Marmarosa was progressively bebop-directed, employing melodies derived from the harmony and varying the rhythmic positioning of accents; soon after, he added more space to his playing, using shorter sequences of notes than typical in bebop.