It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie: My Life in Jazz

By Marty Grosz

“Marty Grosz has an extraordinary gift for connecting with audiences.”
—Joe Plowman, series editor

It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie: My Life in Jazz is the autobiography of Marty Grosz, today’s foremost jazz rhythm guitarist and chord soloist. Part memoir, part transcribed oral history, it serves up Marty’s story raconteur style – full of sardonic wit with a touch of vaudeville.

Marty has many stories to tell. In a career spanning over 70 years, he has performed with jazz greats such as Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd, Ruby Braff, Dick Hyman, Leroy “Slam” Stewart, Bob Haggart, George Duvivier, Bob Wilber, and Kenny Davern. Beginning in the 1950s, he became a prominent figure of Chicago’s jazz club scene and toured with the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra, Soprano Summit, The Classic Jazz Quartet, and the Orphan Newsboys.

Marty’s lengthy discography ranges from a 1951 recording with veteran New Orleans’ bassist “Pops” Foster to his 2015 CD with The Fat Babies.

From his early years in Berlin, to growing up in America with his famous father, German expressionist George Grosz, It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie tells Marty’s story of his life in jazz in his own candid and entertaining style.

Part 1: My Story tells of Marty’s life from his birth in Berlin in 1930, emigration to the United States as a child, his Chicago jazz years, European travels, Soprano Summit, Classic Jazz Quartet, the Orphan Newsboys, it’s all here.

Part 2: The Interviews are transcriptions from 11 live interviews between 2015 and 2019. In them, Marty opines on guitar tuning, Eddie Condon, drummers and bassists, Slam Stewart, Mingus, Chet Baker, Hoagy Carmichael, Herb Ellis, and more.

Index included.

Jazz Story Club Series, Volume 1
Series editor: Joe Plowman

Seeing a Grosz performance is to experience a superb rhythm guitarist, and engaging singer, a man with a whimsical sense of humor and the ability to tell a story with the best of them. The latter two aspects of his strengths are evident throughout It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie: My Life in Jazz…this book provides just the kind of entertaining reading that you would expect from Marty Grosz…you will find it hard to set it down.” – Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz