Lawrence Marable

Drums icon Drums

July 4, 2012 (Age 83) died

May 21, 1929 Birthday

Los Angeles, California, U.S. Birthplace

About

Lawrence Marable was a self-taught West Coast jazz drummer known for his driving cymbal work and perfectly placed rhythmic accents. During the 1950s he was a fixture on the Los Angeles scene, performing and recording with Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Zoot Sims, Chet Baker, Hampton Hawes, Milt Jackson, and many others. In 1956 he recorded his only album as a leader, Tenorman, featuring tenor saxophonist James Clay on the Jazz: West label — a session that became a collector's holy grail and was later reissued in the Blue Note Tone Poet series. After overcoming personal difficulties in the 1960s, he returned to active playing in the mid-1970s, touring with Supersax and Bobby Hutcherson. His most celebrated later work came as the drummer in Charlie Haden's Quartet West from 1986 onward, appearing on albums including In Angel City, Haunted Heart, Always Say Goodbye, and The Art of the Song.

Trivia

Charlie Haden compared Marable's role in Quartet West to "Jimmy Cobb functioned for Miles Davis, especially on Kind of Blue," calling his cymbal beat "earthshaking." He was sometimes referred to as "the West Coast Philly Joe Jones" for his similarly sophisticated approach to bebop drumming. He was related to Fate Marable, the riverboat bandleader whose early-twentieth-century Mississippi River orchestras were important training grounds for young jazz musicians including Louis Armstrong.

Early Life

Born Larance Norman Marable on May 21, 1929, in Los Angeles, California, he grew up in a musical family with connections to the broader jazz tradition. Entirely self-taught as a drummer, he developed his skills through careful listening and participation in the thriving Los Angeles jam session scene of the 1940s. By his early twenties he had established himself as a reliable and swinging presence on the West Coast, earning opportunities to play with visiting jazz luminaries including Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon alongside local figures like Hampton Hawes and Teddy Edwards.