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Lou Grassi

Since the release of his CD PoGressions in 1996 Lou's star has been on the rise. He has subsequently appeared on more than 60 new recordings. His nine CDs as a leader, including six by the PoBand, have established him as one of the most versatile, original, and creative drummers working in this idiom.

Lou Grassi has performed and/or recorded with a wide range of outstanding artists, including Marshall Allen, Billy Bang, Borah Bergman, Rob Brown, Roy Campbell, The Copascetics, Jimmy Garrison, Charles Gayle, Burton Greene, Urbie Green, Gunter Hampel, Johnny Hartman, Guenter Heinz, Fred van Hove, Joseph Jarman, Karl Berger, Sheila Jordan, William Parker, Perry Robinson, Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai and Kenny Wessel among others.

He has toured extensively, performing throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Central America and Russia. He has been a featured artist at numerous international festivals, including The Vision Festival, NYC, The Texaco New York Jazz Festival, NYC, The Rochester Jazz Festival, Rochester, NY, The Rive de Gier International Jazz Festival, France, Festas Lisboa, Portugal, CAMP 99, Germany, The Guelph Jazz Festival, Canada, Festival Frei Improvisierter Music, Germany, The Hurta Cordel International Festival of Improvised Music, Madrid, Spain, the Ad hoc Music Offen Ohren Festival, Munich, Germany, Jazz ao Centro Festival, Coimbra, Portugal, The Klappstuhlfest, der Ort, Wuppertal, Germany and the WIM Festival of Improvised Music in Antwerp, Belgium. Lou has also performed at Banlieues Bleues Festival, Paris, France; Lueneburg Jazz Nights, Germany; The Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, NYC, and The International Dixieland Festival of Dresden, Germany, among others.

Lou Grassi has created original music for more than 15 dance pieces by choreographers including Richard Bull, Carolyn Dorfman, Bill T. Jones, Lois Welk, and Arnie Zane. Lou received funding from Meet the Composer for more than half of these collaborations. He has also been the recipient of grants from The National Endowment of the Arts (1974) and The American Music Center (2002) and he has written on the subject of dance accompaniment for Modern Drummer magazine (August 1984).

Lou Grassi continues to keep one foot firmly planted in traditional and mainstream jazz with the Lou Grassi Jazz Quartet and Quintet, the Dixie Peppers, and as a freelance drummer in New York City.

Lou first accompanied modern dance in 1971 with the Daniel Nagrin Workgroup. In 1973, he worked as resident percussionist for the Dance Department at Brockport State University. Since 1978, He has been on the staff of New Jersey City University as a dance accompanist, and he has been a teaching artist for New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) since 2001.Lou has created original music for more than 15 original dance pieces by choreographers including Richard Bull, Bill T.Jones, Lois Welk, Paul Wilson, and Arnie Zane. Lou received funding from Meet the Composer for these collaborations in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985, and he has written on the subject of dance accompaniment for Modern Drummer magazine (August 1984). Lountinues to teach privately and is available for workshops and clinics.

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3
Album Review

The Nu Band: In Memory of Mark Whitecage: The Nu Band Live At The Bopshop

Read "In Memory of Mark Whitecage: The Nu Band Live At The Bopshop" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


The fearless improvised legacy of veteran, free bop sax man Mark Whitecage may not hold a prominent place in the immediate lexicon of upstarts and legends, but the man could blow his horn. Whitecage could dice and slice a piece of music, solemn or otherwise, to shreds with his sharp metallic, testosterone tone then reassemble it seamlessly with his long, flowing phrases. So it is fitting and more than welcome that he brings it big time on this final recording ...

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Album Review

Nu Band: In Memory of Mark Whitecage: The Nu Band Live At The Bopshop

Read "In Memory of Mark Whitecage: The Nu Band Live At The Bopshop" reviewed by Troy Dostert


One of the underappreciated veterans of free jazz, Mark Whitecage passed away in March of 2021, leaving a well-established legacy of strong recordings in which his searing yet soulful alto saxophone merged with many of the more visible figures on the scene. Joe McPhee, Anthony Braxton, and Annette Peacock are just a few of the luminaries who partnered with Whitecage over the years. Perhaps his most fruitful period was the late 1990s and early 2000s, alongside the musicians in the ...

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Album Review

The Nu Band: In Memory of Mark Whitecage: The Nu Band Live At The Bopshop

Read "In Memory of Mark Whitecage: The Nu Band Live At The Bopshop" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Multiple reedman Mark Whitecage (1937-2021) may not have enjoyed the profile he deserved, but he was an extraordinary improvisational free-jazz force who recorded prolifically for CIMP Records. Bassist Joe Fonda, a member of Whitecage's Nu Band, enjoyed a forty year musical involvement with the man, and In Memory Of Mark Whitecage: The Nu Band Live At The Bop Shop is Fonda's posthumous tip of the hat to his old running mate. It is a recording bursting with the lifeforce --one ...

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Album Review

Lou Grassi: Port Of Call

Read "Port Of Call" reviewed by John Sharpe


German pianist Klaus Treuheit and American drummer Lou Grassi present a further instalment of an irregular collaboration on the limited edition LP Port Of Call. Treuheit may not be familiar to many outside his homeland, but he maintains an active schedule based around European radio stations and has contributed film music for the likes of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki. Currently best known as part of the cooperative Nu Band, Grassi has also lead his own Po Band units in the ...

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Album Review

The Lou Grassi Po Band with Marshall Allen: Live At The Knitting Factory Volume 1

Read "Live At The Knitting Factory Volume 1" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Drummer Lou Grassi, with his progressive jazz and improvisational luminaries, slams matters into high gear during this gutsy 2000 recording, captured at New York City's Knitting Factory. Historically, Grassi is known for his driving passion and prominent leadership, while almost always engaging with superior musicians. Here, the frontline musicians lock horns, via intervallic spikes and scorching dialogues. “RePoZest" presents an evolving vista, commencing with introspective musings between trumpeter Paul Smoker's linear phrasings and flautist Marshall Allen's cosmological lines. ...

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Multiple Reviews

Lou Grassi: Live at The Guelph Festival, The Dope and The Ghost (Live in Vienna) & Shapes and Shadows

Read "Lou Grassi: Live at The Guelph Festival, The Dope and The Ghost (Live in Vienna) & Shapes and Shadows" reviewed by Marc Medwin


Marshall Allen/Lou Grassi Live at The Guelph Festival Cadence Jazz 2007 The Nu Band The Dope and The Ghost (Live in Vienna) Not Two 2007 Martin Speicher/Georg Wolf/Lou Grassi Shapes and Shadows Clean Feed 2007

Lou Grassi is one of the few drummers ...

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Album Review

Marshall Allen / Lou Grassi: Live At The Guelph Festival

Read "Live At The Guelph Festival" reviewed by Budd Kopman


Marshall Allen and Lou Grassi make quite a duo. On Live At The Guelph Festival, they play unprepared and unrehearsed music which, due to their skill, has a remarkable degree of coherence. Admittedly, this is free or avant-garde jazz, requiring coherence to be understood within that framework. Allen is currently leading the Sun Ra Arkestra, after both Sun Ra (1993) and John Gilmore (1995) died, while Grassi has become something of the house percussionist at the CIMP ...

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Performance / Tour

Lane / Grassi / Whitecage at the Living Theatre, NYC, Mar. 7, 2008

Lane / Grassi / Whitecage at the Living Theatre, NYC, Mar. 7, 2008

Source: All About Jazz

WHO: LANE / GRASSI / WHITECAGE at VISION / RUCMA Series 2008 MARK WHITECAGE - Alto saxophone, clarinet ADAM LANE - Bass LOU GRASSI - Drums, percussion WHEN: Friday, March 7, 2008 at 10:30PM WHERE: The Living Theatre 21 Clinton Street New York, NY 10002 (bet Houston St and Stanton St) F train to Delancey Street or J,M,Z to Essex Street TICKETS: ...

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Lou Grassi

Press Quotes

"Grassi, always skilled at incorporating the nuances of his entire kit, turns the fire up and down as needed." Mike Shanley Jazz Times

"Grassi really demonstrates the breadth of his timbral and rhythmic language. Expanding on the innovations of Sunny Murray and Rashied Ali." Marc Medwin All About Jazz New York

"Drummer Lou Grassi's work on the CIMP and Cadence labels has proven to be consistently intriguing - he shows a penchant for setting up collective situations with non-traditional instrumentation that effortlessly ignore boundaries between freedom, composition, and spontaneous collective arrangements. Grassi is careful not to overwhelm the others. His loose drumming delivers a potent, simmering flow that constantly shapes the momentum of the improvisations ." Michael Rosenstein Cadence

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Primary Instrument

Drums

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

In Memory of Mark...

Not Two Records
2021

buy

Port Of Call

NoBusiness Records
2017

buy

Live At The Knitting...

Porter Records
2011

buy

The Dope And The Ghost

Not Two Records
2007

buy

Live At The Guelph...

Cadence Jazz Records
2007

buy

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