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"One by one, The Tony Levin Band took to the stage: Larry Fast on keys; Jerry Marotta on drums;
Jesse Gress on guitar; Levin on basses & stick. They opened with a terrifying version of King Crimson's "Sleepless" with Levin using "funk fingers" - little wooden drumsticks - on his fingertips to pound out a percussive rhythm and Jerry Marotta delivering a great vocal. This lead into one of the highlights of the night - "Pieces Of The Sun" - a song that builds layer upon layer with brilliant interplay between all 4 band members.
The show featured many fine Levin numbers as well as a crafty selection of cover songs. The old party standard "Tequila" was given a jazz-funk mutation; the Levin original "Ooze" had a strong Middle Eastern flavor with stunning guitar work from Jesse Gress; and there was a wonderful 1-2 punch of John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance" going straight into the Genesis classic "Back In NYC." The show was pretty flawless - just to hear the band tear through Larry Fast's brilliant "Phobos" would've been worth the price of admission on its own. My face still hurts from smiling so much!"
http://progsheet1.hypermart.net/ConcertReviews.html |
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"Music is most broadly defined as
sound organized in time. When Jerry's there,
time, from minute shavings of beats to the grand scheme of
the piece becomes a compelling force--not just an organizational
framework. His ability to listen and his quest to reinvent
the drums every time he sits down in the studio sets him
apart. There is something in the way he hits a drum that
loads it with emotion. More than just volume, there is a
spirit in his
drumming that shapes the music."
-Scott Ainslie
"Jerry Rocks. What can you say? This guys wails on his kit like they’re
cannons and plays some really cool shit to boot. "
-Trey
Gunn
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In related news, there's
this from Sun
Palace. They have recently released a new CD entitled,
Give Me A Perfect World. You'll be hard
pressed to find a more soothing and enjoyable arrangement of
music thanks to the talents of Tony Geballe and
the angelic voice of Andriette Redmann who is
lead vocalist and also plays drum loops and keyboards. Add with
this the talents of Jerry
Marotta on drums and backing vocals
on 3 tracks and
a host of other musicians, and there's definite
reason for interest!
-Anna Maria Stjärnell 7.4.2005
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"I've
always enjoyed Jerry
Marotta's drumming, he's just a monster, and I've
always enjoyed what he did with Peter
Gabriel and a host
of other people."
-Eric Johnson |
"Jerry..What can I say? You are
without a doubt the best drummer I've ever had the pleasure
to work with. Thank you for playing with such heart and soul
and for going strong those long hours. I consider all of you
guys world class and I truly feel so lucky to have been able
to be making this record with you. It would have been impossible
without everyone's generosity and flexibility. I continue to
hear and appreciate all sorts of brilliant subtle stuff you
played as I listen back to these tracks."
-Beth
Neilsen Chapman
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Photo by David Sorcher
The final
cover is Buffy Saint Marie's Bury
My Heart At Wonded Knee which appears
as both a live version and a studio version. The highlight of
the live version is drummer Jerry Marotta singing a verse.
-Review
of Indigo Girls 1200 Curfews
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"Aside
from being one of the greatest 'feel' drummers of all time, Jerry has an astounding way of approaching the drum kit as a percussion
orchestra. Each instrument has its own voice and is then integrated
into the greater whole . Whether he's playing the drum set, the
Taos set or his eclectic percussion set, his drumming is always
unconventional and uniquely compositional."
-Mike Visceglia |
"Jerry will
play with great strength when the music calls for it. Often
we both gravitate to simple parts that have a similar weight
to them, and maybe have some small element to make them unique."
-Tony
Levin |
"Jerry
Marotta is a phenominal drummer and one of the most creative
people I've ever met. The list of People he's recorded with-from
the Indigo Girls to Peter
Gabriel- reads like a who's-who
of
conntemporary music. Check him out!"
-Artie
Traum |
"Jerry is
very musical and he has a lot of talentoutside of the drum kit.
He finds ways to bring that into his drumming, whether it is
finding an unusual sounding kit(Taos drums) or a unique part.
Whatever it is, he
is always focused(like I try to be) on the
composition and what will work best for it. On tour, I will have
Jerry playing sax and guitar, maybe even electric guitar with
funk fingers, so he'll be a busy guy
on stage!"
-Tony
Levin |
D.I.Y...
Jerry Marotta on drums From Peter Gabriel's 2nd album
Here's a track from Peter
Gabriel that flows freely between
lots of odd meters. Jerry Marotta's groove is solid and he
deceptively keeps a steady quarter note pulse thoughout. Like
some Beatles songs, you're
not even aware that the meters
are shifting because of how loose it's played. It's a good mid-tempo track
to
play along with if you want to work changing time signatures.
-Jon Mattox
www.jonmattox.com/transcriptions.html |
Steve Gorn, Tony
Levin, Jerry Marotta -
From the
Caves of the Iron Mountain
(Papa Bear PBCD2, 1997,
CD)
Take
a woodwind player and the early eighties rhythm section
for Peter Gabriel (circa Security), put them
together in a cave and you’d be surprised
what they come up with! The second release from King
Crimson member Tony
Levin’s
label is an adventure in recording within an abandoned mine complete with
a lake, some water fowl and a crazy sound engineer on a boat! But the disc
is simply wonderful! Levin is the not-so-obvious ring leader; his playing
is open and resonant on all tracks for his simple fluidity
and keen interaction with the other players. Marotta
is somewhat subdued most of the disk, having been known
as strong kit player and not so much as a percussionist.
Nevertheless his sensitivity to the surroundings gives
the disk a cavernous depth. Exotic instrumentation
is used on tracks such as Glass Beads which features
the primary wood flute instrument, the bansari. From
the Caves comes with an ornate package containing narrative
liner notes which complete a list of all instrumentation by Levin. A companion
video is available for purchase.In closing, the atmospheric textures created
by this sympathetic trio may just have you searching
out a deserted cave to experience just how well music
can be created and interpreted in a not-so sterile recording environment.
-Jeff
Melton
From the Caves of the Iron Mountain
From
the Caves of the Iron
Mountain is an album
recorded inside the Widow Jane
Mine in the Catskill Mountains.
The artists featured on the album are Tony
Levin (King
Crimson, Peter Gabriel), Jerry
Marotta (Peter Gabriel,
The Indigo Girls), and Steve
Gorn (Glen Velez and Jerome
Robbins' New York City Ballet). From
the Caves is a very John
Cage-ish sort of an album, but
the primarily difference from Cage's work is that there
is a /mix/ of background ambience and sophisticated instrumentation
in the music. The album opens with just the background
noise in the caves, illustrating exactly what the ambience
is like, followed
by the interplay between Levin's
Chapman Stick, Marotta's
Taos Drums, and Gorn's
Bansuri Bamboo flute. The
instrumentation is minimalist and subtle, and the natural
reverb, the noise of the crickets, the sound of water,
all add to the beauty of the music. The flute makes the
album very "eastern" sounding,
and the accompanying drums have a primal feel to them.
Levin "holds down the bottom" while playing
some cool riffs every so often. His is the only instrument
that could be classified as "rock" and the
contrast enhances the quality and mood of this album.
The music
could be best described as Eastern-jazz. The
recording is binaural, which means that when you hear
it over the headphones, you will be listening to exactly
what was heard in the caves. I personally didn't notice
that much of a difference between using headphones and
using a good stereo system. Some
of the tracks could easily serve as sound track to a
Tim Burton movie. This is not an album you can listen
to sitting down (unless you're a music fanatic and interested
in the technicalities), but it's definitely one you can
pop in your car as you drive cross-country.
-http://www.ram.org/music/reviews/levin_marotta_gorn.html
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The Tony Levin Band CD, Pieces
Of The Sun
"This
solo effort from bassist Tony Levin (King
Crimson, Peter Gabriel)
covers a lot of textural ground.
From acoustic material that
recalls early Genesis to modern heavy-fusion sounds, Levin never
loses
sight of melody.
Longtime comrade JERRY MAROTTA snakes deep inside the bassist’s
typically spare, pulsating grooves. Marotta’s clever orchestration finds
him folding huge-sounding toms into the usual kick-snare base. "
(Narada)
- Michael Parillo
The
Tony Levin Band CD, Pieces Of The Sun
gets
a great review(especially Jerry's drumming) on page 115 of the
May/June issue of DRUM! magazine. |
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording:
An epic production highlighted by the clockwork undertones
of "Intruder" and
the Afro-prog-rock of "Biko,"
the third in Peter
Gabriel's trilogy of eponymous
solo titles is a watermark of the former Genesis singer's career. Drummer Jerry
Marotta's tight
global-groove templates drive the edgy guitar pastiches of Robert
Fripp, David
Rhodes, Paul Weller, and XTC's
Dave Gregory. Yielding the enigmatic 1980 hit "Games
Without Frontiers," the Steve Lillywhite-produced opus travels the dark psychic
corners of its narrator
with a then-profoundly futuristic sound that's no less
compelling than Bowie's Scary Monsters,
which was released the same year. The cover may depict Gabriel's melting face,
but the album
marks Gabriel's arrival as a solid solo artist.
-James Rotondi
The coup de grace is 1980's chart-topping release (melting face), an educated,
assertive work, that explores the minds of a succession of psychotic characters
with a chilling, mordant intensity. The
menacing ambience, particularly gripping on Intruder, No
Self Control and I
Don't Remember, is a
function both of the mugwumping sound of Tony Levin'sstick playing and a ban on all cymbals that
was imposed on drummers Phil Collins and Jerry
Marotta by Gabriel and producer Steve
Lillywhite.
With all the messy
highs eliminated, the mix is thus screwed to a very severe torque. The album
yielded a big hit in the caustic Games Without Frontiers and at least
one classic in the desperately
moving Biko, which was a dignified expression
of rage and sorrow delivered some time before
eulogies to the victims of political
oppression became fashionable in the rock world.
-Reviewed by David Sinclair |
Jerry is a session ace and producer who has performed with top artists
such as Peter Gabriel,
Paul McCartney, Ani DiFranco, Los
Lobos,
Elvis Costello and the Indigo
Girls. He has been the musical
producer on movie soundtracks including Boys
on the Side, Dead Man Walking, Practical Magic, and
Me, Myself and
Irene.
For the Tony Levin Band tour, Jerry plays
an unusual setup consisting of a Yamaha drum
kit, a pair of congas, his trusty Conn saxophone
and a Garden Weasel (!)
-EMP
Live |
MODERN DRUMMER 1986:
*Drum
painting by Robert Harding.
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Waking The Day by
Marotta Griesgraber
NEW ALBUM
AVAILABLE NOW!
MAROTTA GRIESGRABER
CONCERT
REVIEW PAGE
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