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Marty Grosz
Martin O. Grosz was born February 28, 1930 in Berlin, Germany. He has been a resident of the USA since the age of three and he began playing banjo and guitar in and around New York while still attending college. His musical inclinations were towards Dixieland jazz
After military service he settled in Chicago and played there for several years in local clubs, making a few records but making little impression on the national jazz scene. In the mid-70s he moved back to New York and joined Soprano Summit, the excellent small band co-led by Bob Wilber and Kenny Davern.
According to the critics, Marty Grosz is today's foremost jazz rhythm guitarist and chord soloist. He is virtually the only major jazz guitarist who doesn't use an amplifier. This makes him either the last remaining proponent of the acoustic guitar tradition in jazz or the lone harbinger of a new non-electric movement.
Marty sings, too. His vocals have become as much in demand at record sessions and jazz concerts as his driving guitar rhythm. They are delivered in styles ranging from barrelhouse abandon to whispered restraint, and are sometimes raucous, often mischievous, but almost always informed with a wry sense of the absurd. Grosz was born in Berlin, Germany in 1930. By the time he reached his third birthday, his toes were tapping to radio songs in New York. His urge for musical expression manifested itself when he began strumming a ukelele at the age of eight. A few years later he heard a record that highlighted guitarist Bernard Addison's shuffle-beat behind Roy Eldridge's trumpet: Out went the uke and in came the guitar.
In 1950, Marty cut his first record with a band that included the young pianist, Dick Wellstood, and the veteran New Orleans bassist, Pops Foster. A visit to Chicago in 1954 turned into a twenty-year residency during which he played with many of that town's jazz stars such as Albert Ammons, Floyd O'Brien, Art Hodes, and Jim Lannigan.
Marty returned to New York in 1975 to join Bob Wilber and Kenny Davern's Soprano Summit. There followed a round of touring and recording with Soprano Summit; Dick Wellstood's Friends of Fats; Yank Lawson and Bob Haggart; and the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra directed by Dick Hyman, an orchestra with which Grosz played at the White House. In 1986 Grosz became a charter member of The Classic Jazz Quartet, along with Dick Wellstood, Joe Muranyi, and Dick Sudhalter. Besides playing and singing with the group, Marty wrote most of its arrangements. He has appeared at guitar concerts with such players as Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, and Charlie Byrd. He enjoys playing guitar duets and often works in a duet context with a violinist or saxophonist.
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Marty Grosz: And His Hot Combinations & Chasin' the Spots
by Donald Elfman
Marty Grosz And His Hot Combination Arbors 2006 Marty Grosz Chasin' the Spots Jump 2005
Guitarist Marty Grosz has fashioned a musical career playing American tunes with a jazz inflection and brilliant sense of humor for well over 40 years. He knows thousands of tunes and their origins and he's all ...
read moreMarty Grosz: Hooray For Bix!
by C. Andrew Hovan
A native of Germany, guitarist and vocalist Marty Grosz's especial personality has been part of the traditional jazz scene since the early '50s. Growing up in New York and later moving to Chicago, Grosz has played over the years with renown musicians such as Dick Wellstood, Art Hodes, Jabbo Smith, and the group Soprano Summit. Still active today, Grosz's Hooray For Bix! was originally cut for Riverside in 1957 and it not only pays homage to its namesake, '20s and ...
read moreGuitarists Marty Grosz And Howard Alden This Week On Riverwalk Jazz
Source:
Don Mopsick
This week on Riverwalk Jazz, two contemporary giants of jazz guitar, Marty Grosz and Howard Alden, join The Jim Cullum Jazz Band for a show devoted to pioneers of jazz guitar: Lonnie Johnson, Eddie Lang, Carl Kress, Dick McDonough and Django Reinhardt. The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International. You can also drop in on a continuous stream of shows at the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound. Recognized by Down Beat in 2008 as one of ...
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Unplugged Jazz With Guitarist Marty Grosz This Week On Riverwalk Jazz
Source:
Don Mopsick
Riverwalk Jazz this week features a giant of jazz rhythm guitar—Marty Grosz. His career spans over 60 years. Equal parts showman, jazz scholar and raconteur, Marty is a virtuoso in a playing style that’s both timeless and so far off the radar it’s all but lost in today’s music world. The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM satellite radio and can be streamed on-demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website. If you ask him who ...
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Howard Alden, Marty Grosz on Riverwalk Jazz This Week
Source:
Don Mopsick
This week on Riverwalk Jazz, two contemporary giants of jazz guitar, Marty Grosz and Howard Alden, join The Jim Cullum Jazz Band at The Landing in San Antonio for a show devoted to a trio of early jazz guitarists—Lonnie Johnson, Eddie Lang and Carl Kress. The show is distributed nationwide by Public Radio International and XM/Sirius sattelite radio, and can be streamed from the Riverwalk Jazz website beginning today. Recognized by Down Beat Magazine in 2008 as one of 75 ...
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Marty Grosz's Bass Motives at Chautauqua (Sept. 18, 2010)
Source:
Jazz Lives by Michael Steinman
My flippant title is not completely irrelevant. For starters, at jazz clubs and parties and festivals, there are performances ranging from humdrum to spectacular. And—not very often—there are performances that viewers and listeners know they won't ever forget. I take great pride in presenting one such episode: around four minutes long, quietly rocking rather than explosive, and performed before noon—an unseemly time of day for most jazz musicians. The band was officially titled Marty Grosz and “The Mouldy Figs," referring ...
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Marty Grosz: 80 Years of Rhythm & Swing
Source:
Don Mopsick
This week, Riverwalk Jazz presents Marty Grosz in concert, in honor of his 80th birthday this year.This giant of jazz rhythm guitar has had a celebrated career of over 60 years. If you ask him who's influenced his playing, he's sure to mention the 1920s guitar icon Eddie Lang. Equal parts showman, jazz scholar and raconteur, Marty is a virtuoso in a playing style that's both timeless and so far off the radar it's all but lost in today's jazz ...
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Freddy Cole/Ken Peplowski/Marty Grosz/Vince Giordano Thursday, Nov. 10
Source:
All About Jazz
HIGHLIGHTS IN JAZZ PRESENTS 2ND CONCERT OF THEIR 33RD SEASON “BACK BY POPULAR REQUEST" New York, NY October 1, 2005 Jack Kleinsinger's “Highlights in Jazz," New York's longest running jazz series, is pleased to announce their second series concert Thursday, November 10, 2005- “Back By Popular Request". The featured artists represent the 'personal favorites' selected by Highlights in Jazz subscribers and include Freddy Cole; Ken Peplowski and Marty Grosz; and Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. Freddy Cole just might be ...
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Freddy Cole/Ken Peplowski/Marty Grosz/Vince Giordano "Back By Popular Request" Highlights In Jazz-Thur., Nov. 10
Source:
All About Jazz
November 7, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] For Immediate Release HIGHLIGHTS IN JAZZ PRESENTS 2ND CONCERT OF THEIR 33RD SEASON “BACK BY POPULAR REQUEST" New York, NY October 1, 2005 Jack Kleinsinger's “Highlights in Jazz," New York's longest running jazz series, is pleased to announce their second series concert Thursday, November 10, 2005- “Back By Popular Request". The featured artists represent the 'personal favorites' selected by Highlights in Jazz subscribers and include Freddy ...
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Marty Grosz
Location: Philadelphia
Instrument: Guitar
Born: February 28, 1930
