Marty Grebb

"In My Own Words" Marty Grebb I'm a born and bred Chicagoan and come from a talented, musical family. My father, Harry Grebb, is an accomplished saxophonist from the big band era. My father performed in the Chicago club scene and on the road. My brother, Bob, is a guitarist and has authored music instruction books with jazz greats such as Howard Roberts and Joe Pass. I began studying music at age eight. Piano was first and then I began studying saxophone at age ten. My father gave me drum lessons along with some of his friends who were accomplished drummers. I did have formal musical training and it would continue at the American Conservatory of Music after I graduated from high school. Because of my brother's influence, I became interested in guitar and ended up playing the instrument, alongside my brother. Later in my life my guitar playing would become an important part of my career and I would play with great artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Rosanne Cash, and Leon Russell, to name only a few. I was very honored when Leon Russell said, "You are the best rhythm guitarist that I have ever had in any of my bands." At age twelve, I joined my first group playing with musicians much older than me. This continued until age fifteen, when I formed a band with my high school friend, Peter Cetera. The band was called The Exceptions and in those years we were the most respected and well-known band of our kind in the Chicago area. Though we were accomplished singers, many local groups used The Exceptions as a backup band, particularly at a famous club called The Brown Derby. One of these groups was the Dells, with whom I became good friends. Through this relationship we were discovered by local dee-jay, Dick Kemp, who introduced us to Calvin Carter at Vee Jay Records. At age sixteen we were signed to a record deal. Having been signed to Vee Jay Records I met other roots artists on the label such as Jimmy Reed and John Lee Hooker. Soon after this time period, I also recorded with Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield. I began writing my own material, which was recorded and had some regional success. In 1966, a local band, whose members were big fans of The Exceptions, lost their keyboardist and asked me to join. That band was the The Buckinghams and we went on to have six Top Ten hit recordings, and three Top Twenty albums for Columbia Records. During the course of these events, I became more and more interested in the recording process and started to get involved in the production end of things. I also began appearing on many television shows of the times, like: The Ed Sullivan Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Tonight Show, The Jerry Lewis Show, The Merv Griffin Show, and many more national and international TV shows. In 1969, I moved out to Los Angeles. After years of traveling I had gained some connections out there. At the end of that year, I was asked to join a Bay Area group called Lovecraft that was being managed by Bill Graham. Warner Brothers Records signed the band, and some of the material I had written was covered by other artists. Lovecraft began to self-destruct, and not long after I was contacted by an old friend from The Electric Flag, Harvey Brooks. Harvey was starting a new band, backed by one of the promoters of the Woodstock Festival, Michael Lang. The band included my old band mate from The Exceptions, Kal David, and was being organized in Woodstock, which was a hot bed of musical activity during that era. I co-produced the first album for this band, The Fabulous Rhinestones, which became a cult classic. The Rhinestones were an opening act for many groups of that time, including Sly and the Family Stone. I also got to play with John Lennon at a Peace Festival in New York City. The Rhinestones headlined over many up and coming acts including, The Eagles and The Doobie Brothers. I got to do some recording sessions with Paul Butterfield who was then also living in Woodstock. I recorded some sessions with David Sanborn and Joe Walsh too. In 1972 I met Bonnie Raitt who had come to town to do her second album, Give it Up, and she asked me to play on it. Since then I have played on many of Bonnie's albums, including the classic, Nick of Time, Longing in Their Hearts, Road Tested, and her last record, Fundamental. Our relationship still continues to this day. While in Woodstock, I became friends with members of The Band, and ended up a part of Rick Danko's band when he began his solo career. More recently, The Band recorded a song I co-wrote with Daniel Moore, for their Jericho album. I rekindled my friendship with Levon Helm, and we wrote a song together for The Band's next album called "Kentucky Downpour." I also wrote in the '80s with Richard Manuel, one of my favorite songwriters, which is a very missed friend. Unfortunately, almost all of those tapes have been lost. While living in the New York area, I did some recording with Tito Puente, and also some with Jack DeJohnette. In 1974, I moved to Los Angeles and began playing alternately with Leon Russell, Bonnie Raitt, Etta James, Greg Allman, Bonnie Bramlett and I also began recording with the group Chicago. While touring with Willie Nelson, I did some demo work for Lou Adler and helped co-produce some projects until I was subsequently asked to join Chicago. I worked with Chicago for a couple of years and did some songwriting with band members Lee Loughnane and Robert Lamm, and even roomed with Terry Kath for a while. During that same time period I met some television producers and got to work in a few comedy skits with various comedians. Two of such instances were with Richard Pryor, in a sketch called "Black Death" on Richard's weekly show and on a TV special with George Carlin. I then became a part of a television house band with an old friend Mike Finnigan, whom had played with Jimi Hendrix on the Electric Ladyland album. From week to week, with a band full of incredible musicians, we backed artists like Les Paul, Jeff Beck, Steven Stills, Ted Nugent, Todd Runngren, my old friend Etta James, and many more. At about this time, I was called in to play on Rosanne Cash's album, which was being produced by her then husband, Rodney Crowell. Rosanne asked me to join her band and hit the road. This band had an amazing line-up including Vince Gill, Tony Brown, Emory Gordy, Hank Devito, and Larry Londin. Bonnie Raitt called and asked me to rejoin her band, and from there I continued with Bonnie through the Luck of the Draw album. My songwriting skills were developing more, and I co-wrote "Breaking Point" with Jerry Lynn Williams for Eric Clapton's Journeyman album. During these years, I played in many horn sections also, including the group the Memphis Horns and the Texacali Horns, as well as with Chicago. I played with Rick Braun and Jimmy Roberts from Rod Stewart's band, and with Doc Kupka of Tower of Power. I even had the pleasure of recording various albums with esteemed trumpet player Lee Thornberg, and Nick Layne. I became acquainted with producer John Porter, and from that relationship I was able to play on some of John's productions such as, Taj Mahal, Otis Rush, and Buddy Guy. Around that time, Stevie Nicks asked me to join her on the road for a tour. Don Was had used me on some recordings of his including the Duets album, and I was the horn section for Little Richard and Tanya Tucker. I gradually became more involved in the area of film, most notably working with Danny Elfman on his Dead Presidents sound track and recording three songs for Steven Seagal in his film "Fire Down Below". Levon Helm was in that film and when we went on the road together with an all-star band, I served as musical director to promote Steven's film and also making headway in some music supervision. I appeared in the film "Ticker" with Steven, Billy Preston, Leland Sklar, Zigaboo Modeliste, and Clarence Gatemouth Brown. I performed in the film "One Night Stand" for director, Mike Figgis. I also wrote two songs for a Wesley Snipes film and performed on a video that was originally filmed in the late seventies with J.J. Cale, which featured Leon Russell. It has recently been released as a DVD by Classic Pictures Company U.K., and is entitled "J.J. Cale." I've had much work in recent years. I was asked to play and do some arranging on Eric Clapton's new album, which was co-produced by J.J.Cale. That album, The Road To Escondido, was released at the outset of 2007, and in our history Clapton has also recorded some of my songs. I've also made an appearance as a multi-instrumentalist on the recently released CD by Owny Rutledge. My last solo album, Smooth Sailin', was released on the Telarc label. I had the help of my friends in the studio like Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal and many of the other musicians that I have been fortunate enough to work with over the years, including the likes of Jim Keltner, Steve Cropper, Amos Garrett and many, many more. My new album, High Steppin', is currently available from Luna Chica Records International. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.