Remembering Spider Martin

Tom Marcello, manager of vibraphone wizard Joe Locke, checked in with BWJAZZANDBLUES this weekend regarding a previous post about South Florida jazz fave John "Spider" Martin. Initially, Marcello wrote, "In all honesty, Spider wasn't much of a tenor player, but he was a virtuoso self promoter. Even from the grave!" He then enclosed a flier that Locke sent along to him regarding a Sept. 6 tribute to Spider at the Ontario House in Niagara Falls, featuring B3 Hammond monster Joey DeFrancesco. (Apparently, Spider's brother, Kenny, had sent the flier to Locke.)

That may be so, I countered, but on the recording I was writing about, Live From the Breakers of Fort Lauderdale Rooftop, Spider played with plenty of heart and feeling, and I still think the disc holds up as a great snapshot of the mid-'80s jazz scene here in South Florida. (Dr. Lonnie Smith and Ignacio Berroa are also on it, and Blue Note record store owner Bob Perry is the emcee.) It's also a fond rememberance of the troubled saxophonist who tragically passed away in 2000 after battling demons and addictions for decades.

Here's Marcello's affectionate reminiscence of palling around with Spider in upstate New York:

"Spider and I hung out a lot during the '70s after he was released from Attica. I spent many a good night listening to him play and going out to the after-hours clubs. It was he who introduced me to Dizzy and Max [Roach]. Fond memories!

"I meant not to dis Spider's playing so much, but the fact is if he put as much effort into his horn as he did in his hustles, he would have been greater.

"Spider could always hustle a gig. It wasn't too many months after he was released from jail that he got a concert with the Rochester Philharmonic! He also gave gigs to many of the young guys in Rochester (who needed the experience) like Joe, Barry Kiener, Greg Skaff and many others. In fact, Joe still uses one of his sayings when he ends a set: "Stick with your party and don't bother nobody." You have to say it with the right accent on the vowels!

"He burned his bridges here in a number of ways (small rip-offs and passing bad checks; that's what landed him in jail) and he split to South Florida. My first wife was from Miami, and in January of '86 we were down there visiting and I saw an ad that he was at the Gusman doing a MLK tribute concert with Joe, Dizzy, Mongo [Santamaria] and Nestor Torres. I stopped by and was happy that he had become one of the main players there. That's the last time I saw him.

"So, a lot of fond memories of Spider Martin for me!"

In addition to managing Joe Locke, Marcello is also a helluva photographer. Check out his amazing jazz snaps at http://www.flickr.com/photos/11447043@N00/. He truly captures the Rochester and New York loft scenes of the '70s; look for some killer shots of Sam Rivers holding court at Studio RivBea.