Home » Jazz Musicians » Jerry Marotta

Jerry Marotta

Jerry was born in Cleveland, Ohio. At the age of five his family moved to Harrison, NY in Westchester county. In the 4th grade he started taking clarinet lessons.

In the very first report card that year, his music teacher wrote Jerry shows absolutely no interest in the clarinet! He switched over to saxophone with only a little more success. Ironically it was that same year that Jerry’s brother Rick Marotta brought home the drum kit that would change both their lives for good.

​Cut to Jerry graduating from Harrison High in the summer of 1973 (a year early) and taking his final exams on the road with him. Jerry’s brother Rick had done a record with a group called Arthur, Hurley and Gotlieb for Columbia Records and their single had just broken the top 40.They were in need of a drummer and Jerry got the call.

In 1975 Jerry auditioned for a Woodstock based group called Orleans and got the job. Soon afterwards he found himself in L.A. recording the Waking and Dreaming record, played on his first hit “Still The One” and on the road, with Orleans, supporting Jackson Browne. Orleans founding member, John Hall, left the band in the summer of 1977. As the band took time to decide what their next move would be, Jerry flew to London and started working with ex-Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel.

For the next two decades Jerry divided his time between recording and touring with Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Tears for Fears, Joan Armatrading, Paul McCartney, Sarah McLachlan, John Mayer and countless others.

In 1986 Jerry started his own band Island Of Men. He then moved from New York City to Woodstock NY where put together his studio JERSVILLE STUDIOS and began producing recordings for his band and others.

Jerry is currently dividing his time between recording and touring and managing two studios: DREAMLAND and JERSVILLE.

​Drummer/Producer: Jerry Marotta has recorded and toured with Peter Gabriel, The Indigo Girls, Hall and Oates, Tears For Fears, Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney, 10,000 Maniacs, Suzanne Vega and Los Lonely Boys to name only a few. Through his extensive touring experience and performances on hundreds of albums Jerry has worked with many of the greatest producers in the world.

Currently Jerry is spreading his time between The Marotta Brothers Band (with Rick), The Fragile Fate with Rupert Greenall (The Fixx), Flav Martin, Security Project with Trey Gunn, Reelin’ in the Years, and Annie & The Hedonists.

Read more

Tags

95
Extended Analysis

Exposures

Read "Exposures" reviewed by John Kelman


Between the impact of the COVID pandemic since 2020, and in the eight year-long tenure of King Crimson's final lineup, which toured between 2014 and 2021, there's been a lot revealed about its sole remaining founding member, guitarist/keyboardist Robert Fripp. Since 2012, the more than five-decade history of King Crimson, live and in the studio, has been painstakingly and exhaustively documented in a series of large multimedia box sets and smaller, more price-friendly editions of key material, often ...

3
Album Review

Security Project: Contact

Read "Contact" reviewed by Geno Thackara


It's impossible to describe an outfit like the Security Project without that troublesome (if not entirely inaccurate) phrase “tribute band" popping up, complete with the inevitable baggage that term implies. It's usually reserved for countless local-level acts that entertain bar crowds with predictable staples on any given weekend, sure, but this group shoots for something much more sophisticated and exploratory. They almost completely eschew the obvious hits of the Peter Gabriel catalogue and primarily delve into the groundbreaking and unclassifiable ...

21
Extended Analysis

Security Project: Live 1

Read "Security Project: Live 1" reviewed by John Kelman


While so many singer-songwriters of the past 50 years have been covered time and again-even fostering tribute bands that recreate the live experience as close to perfection as possible-one of the most important, groundbreaking and forward-thinking songwriters of the past five decades has, for the most part, been overlooked. Peter Gabriel may have spent the first few years of his career in progressive rock trendsetters Genesis, but it's been his solo career, which began in 1977, that ultimately elevated the ...

Read more articles

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Exposures

Panegyric Recordings
2022

buy

Contact

7D Media
2017

buy

Videos

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.