Joe Morello

Rest In Peace - Mr. Joe Morello.

Free spirit / free style great drummer.
 
The man truly was great at what he did and I don't use the word great lightly. I wish I could have seen him live. Time to fire up some Dave Brubeck Quartet. He'll be missed but not forgotten.
 
A Jazz Giant. A master of weird time signatures which I really love. Like Take Five. Great technique and speed even 80 years of age. My condolences to his family. Seemed like a geniuely really nice gentleman that I wish I could have met.
 
One of my all time favourite drummers. I actually felt a sense of loss when I heard he died - probably because I've listened to him and enjoyed his playing for so long he'd become part of my life.

He had a good innings and may he rest in peace.
 
I need to post something meaningful in tribute to Joe Morello. He was a huge inspiration to me. Hell I even set my drums up similar to the way he did. He studied with George Lawrence Stone as did I, but not at the same time as Joe was quite a bit older. Joe's signature solo was done on Take Five with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, the all time most played and listened to tune in jazz history. I would submit that a big part of the appeal of that track can be attributed to Joe's solo. Joe was an amazing drummer and teacher. His eyes were weak, but he made up for it with his ears. Big ears. At a clinic he conducted at my high school in 1964 or 1965 he played Jingle Bells on his 13" tom tom changing the tone using his fingers to change the tension on the head and using one stick to play the notes. To prove it wasn't just a parlor trick, he asked the audience to name another simple tune and he duplicated the effort on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star impromtu. He knew how to swing and he taught us the importance of keeping track of the beat no matter what. He advocated doing this with the hi hat. The man could swing like crazy and he knew how to build a solo to a crescendo. Listen to his solo from the album "At Carnegie Hall" on Castillian Drums. He was always generous with his time. He was a great drummer and a nice guy. He lives on through his music and the many lives he touched in a long and productive life. God bless you Joe!
 
I just went to Wikipedia to check his tom and bass drum sizes, and found out he died over a month ago.

I always wanted to take lessons from him, but I don't live anywhere near where he did, plus I'm not good enough. But I would always look in the back of Modern Drummer for his ad just to see if he was taking students.

What a bummer. The guy was drumming like a kid at 82. I just figured he'd live forever.
 
Like Buddy, Joe could play like a machine. He would play an exercise slowly and then speed it up. OK, so you think he's going to speed up moderately. WRONG - the man would play the same exercise so fast that your head would spin. Incredible !!
 
Ive been a fan of Joes since i was a teenager and he is definitely one of my favorites. The melodies he plays in solos are incredible. My favorite is all of his drum breaks and solo on the studio recording of Nomad - just brilliance. Actually he sounds like he may have been one of John Bohnhams influences - the solo on Nomad starts very similiar to the original studio recording of Moby Dick. Morello's hands and brain were amazing... I think all those years of him playing violin at a very high level before he picked up the sticks help tremendously on the drum kit and at snare drum rudiments.
 
Like Buddy Rich, Joe Morello was an original. There are no others like him. Truly one of the greatest. Joe was incredibly fast, and accurate even in his later years.

I have fond memories of seeing his pictures in the Ludwig Drum Co. catalogs from the 60's. If Joe's picture wasn't in the catalog, it felt as though something was missing.
 
Just Curious, did Joe have kids?
 
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