Marty Morell

Marty Morell (born February 25, 1944) is a jazz drummer who was a member of the Bill Evans Trio for seven years—longer than any other drummer. Before joining Bill Evans, he worked with the Al Cohn-Zoot Sims Quintet, Red Allen, Gary McFarland, Steve Kuhn, and Gábor Szabó.^[1]

Career

Morell studied mallets with Morris Goldberg at the Manhattan School of Music and tympani with Saul Goodman at the Juilliard School of Music.

From 1968 to 1974, he was in a trio with pianist Bill Evans and bassist Eddie Gómez.^[1] Peter Pettinger, a biographer of Evans, called Morell "an unsung stalwart of piano trio history".

...he had been responsible for an exceedingly tight unit that could swing and drive relentlessly. His control of the twelve-bar sections in a number like "Twelve Tone Tune", for instance, was as snappy and precise as coulld [sic] be. At the same time,on ballads, he never failed to provide a listening cushion of the utmost delicacy, seeming to imbue his drums with the ability to breathe of their own volition, and always in expressive union with his leader.
— "Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings", p. 226^[2]

After leaving the trio, he settled in Toronto, Canada, and became a studio drummer.^[1] He led bands as a drummer and played vibraphone and congas with the 1970s funk-jazz band Ravin'.^[3] He has played on jingles and films and has worked with Don Sebesky, Stan Getz, Kenny Wheeler, Claus Ogerman, ^[4] From 1968 to 1971, he was a member of Rob McConnell's Boss Brass.^[1]

Morell performed with the Toronto Symphony, Canadian Opera Company, the Hamilton Philharmonic and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet From 1989 to 1997 he was the percussionist with the Phantom of the Opera orchestra in Toronto. In 1998 he moved back to his hometown, New York City, to play in the musical Ragtime. After a two-year run on Broadway, he toured nationally with the show. Following that, he worked for a revival of Kiss Me, Kate, which won a Tony award for Best Musical revival 2001, and Seussical: The Musical starring Cathy Rigby.

He became the drummer with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 2006. During the next year, he asked to teach drums at the University of Central Florida. He performed a Bill Evans tribute program with Japanese pianist Takana Miyamoto. In October, 2008 Morell toured Japan with the Ellington Orchestra and, while there, performed several concerts with Miyamoto.^[4]

He has taught drums and percussion at the University of Central Florida^[5] and has recorded with The Jazz Professors, a band consisting of university faculty members: saxophonist Jeff Rupert, bassist Richard Drexler, pianist Per Danielsson, trombonist Michael Wilkinson, and guitarist Bobby Koelble. The band has had two albums on the top of the chart at Jazzweek magazine in 2011 and 2013.^[6]