Musicians - Dodo Marmarosa

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	Musicians - Dodo Marmarosa

Michael "Dodo" Marmarosa (December 12, 1925 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – September 17, 2002) was an American bebop pianist.

A child prodigy, Marmarosa was a trained classical pianist, but familiarised himself with jazz in parallel and practised with school mate Erroll Garner, another pianist from Pittsburgh. He received the uncomplimentary nickname Dodo as a child because of his large head and short body.

He began his professional career in 1941, joining the Johnny "Scat" Davis Orchestra at the age of 15, which lead him to joining Gene Krupa's band shortly after. The early 1940s brought a stint in Charlie Barnet's big band, where he first met Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, the luminaries of bebop. In 1944 he joined Tommy Dorsey, playing along side Buddy Rich. In November 1944 Marmosa joined Artie Shaw's combo, known as the Grammercy-Five, that also featured guitarist Barney Kessel and fellow Pittsburgher, trumpet player Roy Eldridge.

He recorded as a sideman in the late 1940s, notably with Lester Young , Charlie Parker and Howard McGhee. He also featured in Gene Norman's Just Jazz concerts, and in 1947 won Esquire magazine's New Star (piano) award.

After 1950 his only recordings were of two sessions with Gene Ammons in 1961 and 1962, though he had continued to perform in Pittsburgh, albeit irregularly, and a CD containing amateur recordings of his performances has been issued by Uptown Records. His low profile has been attributed to mental illness; Marmarosa was drafted in 1954, given electric shock treatment and discharged in a poor psychological condition.

Dodo Marmarosa last performed in public at the Colony Restaurant in Pittsburgh in 1968. Despite his intermittent career, he is generally considered to have been in the top rank of jazz pianists. At the time of his death, Marmarosa resided at the VA Medical Center in Lincoln Lemington, occasionally playing piano and organ for residents and guests of the center.

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