Steve Marcus Tribute
Story by Steve Smith
Photos by Baron Browne
(Click photos to enlarge)

The Steve Marcus Tribute was held on Sunday, May 28, at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church on the Upper East Side of New York City. 

The event was attended by at least 250 people. When the people were walking in, a live concert of Count's Jam Band from a gig in Los Angeles in January, 2003 – with Steve on soprano, Larry Coryell on guitar, Kai Eckhardt on bass and me on drums – was projected onto a large video screen.  After about 10 minutes, the Count’s Jam Band DVD was turned off and a collection of photos of Steve were projected onto the screen.

The tribute officially started with a talk from the Pastor. Then, Buddy's Buddies (with Walt Weiskopf filling in on tenor and soprano sax) played three tunes - "Nutville," "New Blues" and "Airegin."

After that, Steve Marcus' nephew spoke and I spoke. We then played some music with The Buddy Rich Alumni Big Band. The band sounded amazing!  We played "Ya Gotta Try," "Groovin' Hard," "Dancing Men" and "Love For Sale," all arrangements that Steve loved to play with Buddy.

After the big band, Larry Coryell gave a beautiful talk. He reminisced about when he first moved to NYC in ‘65 and met Steve. They started playing rock tunes by The Byrds and The Beatles, and played them in a jazz concept, and it was all Steve's idea. Steve had linked the modal playing of John Coltrane to the simple "one chord" vamps of the rock tunes. Larry then played solo guitar, “Our Love Is Here To Stay,” and it was very touching.

Next, the tune "Timecheck," from the "Buddy Rich Live in Montreal" DVD was projected onto the screen. Steve had played a burning solo on that tune and it was wonderful to see him playing with Buddy.  (Rob Wallis and Paul Siegel from Hudson Music generously paid for a large video screen and projector.) 

The next DVD piece was a suite written by Bob Mintzer called "Good News."  On that tune, Steve played a long unaccompanied cadenza, which was fantastic. When Buddy was about to count the band back in, we finished the piece with the live big band.  It was powerful to come in with the live band...and it was a nice touch. 

This was Andy Fusco's idea and Andy was the main person that organized the entire event.

The last person to talk was Steve’s best friend, Andy Fusco. Andy was very touching and funny. He is a gifted storyteller, and really brought Steve to life for all of us. After Andy’s talk, the band broke into a slow blues tune.  Pictures of Steve were shown again on the screen and everyone slowly visited with each other and then filed out. 

Steve’s wife, Eleanor, had a dinner/reception a few doors away, and we all went and hung until the wee hours.  It was a great hang and everyone had lots of stories about Steve.

Some of the people who came were: writer/drummer Mark Griffith, Mike Mandel (keyboard player from the 11th House), Freddie Gruber (drum teacher and friend to Buddy Rich and Steve Marcus), Stanley Kay (Buddy’s old manager), Steve Peck (Buddy’s old road manager) – these guys had some amazing STORIES!!!!  Also in attendance were Dr. Bruce Klauber, Steve Marcus’ neighbors from New Hope, PA, the entire Buddy Rich Alumni Band, and Holly Marcus, daughter of Steve and Eleanor.

It was truly a wonderful evening remembering our beloved friend - and it truly felt like a celebration of his life.

- Steve

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