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Joe Marsala
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joe Marsala (born January 4, 1907 in Chicago; died March 4, 1978 om Santa Barbara, California) was a Chicago-based jazz clarinetist and songwriter. He was active during the big band era. Marsala is notable as one of the early employers of drummer Buddy Rich. Among his other musicians included pianist Joe Bushkin and guitarist Carmen Mastren. Leonard Feather, among others, gives him a good deal of credit for breaking down segregation in jazz.[1]
Marsala's own playing was rich and graceful, owing a lot to Jimmie Noone. Although usually thought of as a "dixielander" along with Eddie Condon, Marsala was more adventurous: in the 1940's he used Dizzy Gillespie on a recording session, for instance.
That said he did have some difficulties adjusting to the bebop era and other clarinetists also found their skills less in demand. By 1949 he partly switched to writing songs in the genre now called classic pop. He did this primarily for Frank Sinatra and Patti Page. Among these songs was the hit Don't Cry, Joe (Let Her Go, Let Her Go, Let Her Go), which led their friends to the unfounded fear his marriage to Adele Girard was over.[2] He also wrote And So to Sleep Again for Patti Page.
According to his wife, Adele, Joe Marsala also suffered from chronic colitis and was unable to drink alcohol.
