Stu Martin (drummer)

Stu Martin ( born June 11, 1938 in Liberty, New York, † June 12, 1980 in Paris, France ) was an American jazz drummer.

Martin began in 1956 with the drumming. Soon he appeared with the orchestras of Quincy Jones, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Slide Hampton and Maynard Ferguson on; He was also involved in the (lost) initial reception of Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage. Between 1965 and 1966 he worked in Europe with Donald Byrd, Lee Konitz, Art Farmer, Jean -Luc Ponty, Don Byas and Dexter Gordon.

He returned to the United States back to join the Gary Burton Quartet, but came with Barre Phillips and Attila Zoller back to Europe, where he also played with Joachim Kühn, Red Mitchell and Slide Hampton. In October 1969 he became a member of The Trio, in which he collaborated with saxophonist John Surman and bassist Barre Phillips. With this group he performed very successfully in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland, both club playing concerts as well as on all the major festivals. After two years, the group broke up, but in order later to meet in changing contexts, such as extended by Albert Mangelsdorff again. Martin then played in the group Ambush with Barre Phillips and Peter Warren as bassist and saxophonist Charlie Mariano, but also took up with John McLaughlin, Dave Holland and Karl Berger and was found in the group of Charles Mingus and in the quartet of Albert Mangelsdorff.