Marshall Brickman, a seminal figure in the development of what is now known as melodic style banjo, died on November 29 at 85 years of age.
Though perhaps more celebrated for his career in film, writing screenplays for a number of Woody Allen projects, including Manhattan, Sleeper, Annie Hall, and Manhattan Murder Mystery. He also wrote on-air banter for television program Candid Camera, and is credited with creating and writing the beloved Carnac the Magnificent routines for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.
Brickman was born in Brazil, but grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. A few years after finishing high school he was convinced to join popular folk group The Tarriers, by his former schoomate Eric Weissberg. In 1963, the two recorded a highly influential album for Elektra Records called New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass, which contained 18 fresh arrangements of popular banjo tunes using the then new scalar melodic banjo playing that was soon to catch on like wildfire.
The album was released at roughly the same time as Bill Monroe’s version of Santa Claus, with Bill Keith also playing in this radical new manner. Unlike the highly syncopated three finger style popularized by Earl Scruggs 15 years earlier, this new picking found the banjo playing all of the notes of a linear melody, as a fiddle might.
Marshall and Eric took turns being featured on the various tracks, like Shuckin’ The Corn, Eighth of January, Earl’s Breakdown, Fire on the Mountain, Pony Express, Mountain Dew, Buffalo Gals, and several others. The melodic style wasn’t utilized on every solo of every track, but it was prominent enough to attract a great deal of attention.
Following the success of the Deliverance movie in 1972, the album was reissued with the added tune Duelin’ Banjos, which Weissberg had recorded for the film, and retitled as such.
A couple of near misses had been prominent in Marshall’s life. After The Tarriers broke up in 1965, he joined a group called The New Journeymen with John and Michelle Phillips, and after he left them, they became The Mamas and the Papas. Another more deadly incident came in 1969 when he turned down an invitation to attend a party at the home of director Roman Polanski. The very event was the scene of a grisly massacre when members of the Manson family murdered five people in gruesome fashion.
Once his success in the film industry was achieved, Brickman moved away from performing, though his musical skills were called upon in a pair of Broadway musicals he co-wrote, Jersey Boys, the story of singer Frankie Valli, and The Addams Family, based on the iconic characters of cartoonist Charles Addams.
Farewell Marshall Brickman, a life well-lived.
