Biography
Martin Fierro, a tenor saxophonist who remained a constant presence in Bay Area rock and jazz circles for decades, performed alongside acts ranging from Quicksilver Messenger Service to Merl Saunders yet earned his greatest recognition through work with Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead inside the brief Legion of Mary lineup. Born January 18, 1942, in Mexico and raised in El Paso, TX, the self-taught musician started performing with local rock groups during his teenage years. He turned toward jazz in 1964, traveling through Mexico with the Maxnava Jazz Four, then moved to San Francisco four years afterward and entered the Tracy Nelson-led psychedelic blues outfit Mother Earth just in time to record the LP Living with the Animals. Fierro also launched an extended partnership with the Sir Douglas Quintet in 1968 that produced enduring tracks such as "Mendocino," after which he established himself as a reliable session player on albums by Quicksilver, Blue Cheer, and James Cotton while beginning to compose, most notably creating the score for Alejandro Jodorowsky's cult classic El Topo in 1970.
His association with Garcia began on the 1971 release Hooteroll?, shared billing with Howard Wales, and continued when Fierro contributed to the Dead's Wake of the Flood in 1973. In July 1974 he joined Garcia in Legion of Mary, an improvisational blues-funk ensemble completed by keyboardist Saunders, bassist John Kahn, and drummer Ron Tutt. The group's existence proved short, yet Rhino Records eventually assembled its live recordings into the two-disc set The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol 1: Legion of Mary, issued in August 2005. Fierro established the jam band Zero in 1988 and issued multiple albums including Here Goes Nothin' and Nothin' Goes Here while also working with later-generation jam acts such as the String Cheese Incident and the Dark Star Orchestra. He died March 13, 2008, after a brief struggle with cancer at the age of 66.
His association with Garcia began on the 1971 release Hooteroll?, shared billing with Howard Wales, and continued when Fierro contributed to the Dead's Wake of the Flood in 1973. In July 1974 he joined Garcia in Legion of Mary, an improvisational blues-funk ensemble completed by keyboardist Saunders, bassist John Kahn, and drummer Ron Tutt. The group's existence proved short, yet Rhino Records eventually assembled its live recordings into the two-disc set The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol 1: Legion of Mary, issued in August 2005. Fierro established the jam band Zero in 1988 and issued multiple albums including Here Goes Nothin' and Nothin' Goes Here while also working with later-generation jam acts such as the String Cheese Incident and the Dark Star Orchestra. He died March 13, 2008, after a brief struggle with cancer at the age of 66.
Albums