Biography
Marty Sheller entered the world in Newark, New Jersey, on March 15, 1940. He began his musical journey on snare drum at age ten while still in school. Before long he turned to trumpet, making his first professional appearance in 1958 during a summer engagement at The Woodbine Hotel in the Catskill Mountains. That autumn he became a member of the ensemble fronted by tenor saxophonist Hugo Dickens, whose repertoire of jazz, R&B, and Latin styles entertained Black social-club dances throughout Harlem. Sheller soon aligned himself with timbales-and-vibraphone player Louie Ramirez; together they assembled a unit devoted to rendering jazz repertoire over a Latin rhythm section. Conguero Frank Malabé joined that unit and remained an important early influence according to Sheller. Sabu Martinez later engaged the entire group—excluding Malabé—to appear on the album Jazz Espagnole, first released on the Alegre label. While performing alongside another timbalero and vibraharpist, Pete Terrace, Sheller encountered Mongo Santamaria at a Bronx club in 1961. The Cuban conga master had recently arrived in New York from San Francisco leading a charanga ensemble. Shortly afterward Santamaria contacted Sheller, having replaced the charanga’s flute-and-violin front line with a Latin-jazz configuration featuring trumpet, alto saxophone, and tenor saxophone. At Sheller's initial rehearsal, Herbie Hancock introduced a freshly rearranged version of the Blue Note recording “Watermelon Man,” altering its original phrasing. Santamaria’s manager Pete Long immediately telephoned producer Orrin Keepnews at Riverside Records and convinced him to capture the piece for single release. The resulting track, issued on Riverside’s Battle subsidiary, reached the pop Top Ten and showcased Sheller's celebrated trumpet solo, modeled on Melvin Lastie’s funk-inflected contribution to Barbara George’s R&B hit “I Know.” Sheller remained with Santamaria as sideman, composer, arranger, and musical director through 1968. Embouchure difficulties then compelled him to cease trumpet performance, yet he continued his association with the conguero until Santamaria’s passing in 2003. Among his production credits stands the Santamaria album Amanecer, honored with the 1977 Grammy for Best Latin Recording. After setting aside his horn, Sheller found steady demand for his skills as arranger and composer. His charts supplied the structural foundation and sonic signature for the salsa catalog issued by Fania Records from the late 1960s into the late 1980s. In addition to crafting the 1989 hit “El Gran Varon” and numerous other sides for Willie Colón, his arrangements appear on recordings by Joe Bataan, Rubén Blades, Larry Harlow, Ismael Miranda, Hector Lavoe, Giovanni Hidalgo, Shirley Scott, George Benson, Jon Faddis, Idris Muhammad, Steve Turre, T.S. Monk, and David Byrne. At the urging of Bobby Porcelli, Sheller began writing for Tito Puente in 1993 and stayed with the bandleader until Puente’s death in 2000. His work is recognized for its depth and substance, its layered horn textures, and its command of the Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican, and broader Caribbean rhythms that have permeated jazz since the beboppers of the 1940s embraced those idioms. He continues to rank among the foremost three arrangers within this distinctive strain of American music.
Albums