Marty Grosz has long been a triple “threat” on stage. A superior acoustic guitarist, he takes inventive chordal solos in the tradition of Carl Kress and Dick McDonough and provides inspiring accompaniment for other musicians. Grosz is a fine singer strongly inspired by Fats Waller. And, in addition, he is a humorous and often insightful storyteller whose spontaneous monologues onstage are sometimes quite funny.
Recently the 90-year old performer came out with his memoirs, It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie (Golden Alley Press). Divided into two parts, the bulk of the book (titled My Story) was written by Grosz. The shorter second part, The Interviews, was conducted by his bassist Joe Plowman.
The rather breezy narrative starts out strong with Grosz talking about his childhood which began in Berlin. His father, the notable artist George Grosz, outwitted and barely escaped from the Nazis in 1933, settling with his family in New York. Although he could have been an artist himself, Marty Grosz was attracted to swinging jazz. He began on the ukulele when he was eight, took up the acoustic guitar when he was 13, and never was interested in the electric guitar unlike nearly all of his contemporaries. Grosz alternated between acoustic guitar and banjo during his long (and still active) musical life. He discusses his brief time in college, his period in the military, and his earlier musical expe
