Joshua “Jams” Marotta is a New Orleans based drummer focusing on traditional New Orleans jazz and brass band music. He is forever grateful to the city of New Orleans, its amazing people and culture, and the musicians there who have guided and influenced him.

Jams performs internationally at top venues such as The North Sea Jazz Festival, The Blue Note, and The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. He or his work appear in Vogue Magazine, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair, as well as film, commercials, off Broadway theater, and over twenty albums.

Bio/Resume

Bio

Raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, Jams fell in love with the music and culture of nearby New Orleans and moved there in 2009. He started busking in the French Quarter and on Frenchmen Street, and then playing in the clubs and at local festivals. He now tours nationally and internationally, performing at premier jazz venues and noted music festivals, as well as all of the great places he loves back home in New Orleans.

He or his work has appeared in print publications such as Vogue Magazine, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal as well as online platforms such as Vanity Fair, NPR, TMZ, and MTV to name a few. Jams performed and recorded an album of Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald duets with actress/singer Alia Shawkat and trumpet/vocalist James Williams, and played and performed with a speaking roll in the Off Broadway production "Playing Hot". He has taught "master classes" and worked at the New Orleans Traditional Jazz Camp. He has performed at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and opened for Sting at the Monte-Carlo Sporting Summer Festival in Monaco for Monaco’s prince.

Resume

Select Performances

North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), The Kennedy Center, Blue Note NYC, SOHO House (Istanbul, London, NYC), Ascona Jazz Festival (Switzerland), New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival (Canada), Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club (London), Megeve Jazz Festival (France), Edenburgh Jazz & Blues Festival (Scotland), Preservation Hall (New Orleans), New Orleans Meets Zofingen (Switzerland), Ascona Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Le Duc des Lombards (Paris), French Quarter Fest (New Orleans), Satchmo Summerfest (New Orleans), and opened for Sting at Monte-Carlo Sporting Summer Festival (Monaco).

Performs/Performed with

Treme Brass Band, New Orleans Swamp Donkeys Traditional Jass Band, James Andrews and the Crescent City Allstars, Glen David Andrews, Gunhild Carling, New Orleans Classic Big Band, Fritzel’s All Star Band, Givers, Meschia Lake, Storyville Stompers Brass Band, Kid Merv, Smoking Time Jazz Club, Doyle Cooper Jazz Band, Warren Batiste, James Williams, Lagniappe Brass Band, Big Fun Brass Band, Soul Brass Band, Panorama Brass Band, March Fourth, City Of Trees Brass Band, Emily Estrella, Jaywalkers Brass Band, and many more.

Select Publications

Print
Vogue Magazine, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, AAA Magazine cover, OK Magazine, OffBeat Magazine, multiple New Orleans tourism ad campaigns, Dirty Coast postcards.

Online
Vanity Fair, "The Jazz Youthquake"; NPR; TMZ; Slate Magazine; Dazed Magazine; Perez Hilton; The Scotsman, Syncopated Times mention.

Film

NCIS New Orleans (CBS), HBO's Treme, The Amazing Race (CBS), Make Google Do It commercial, R3hab & Kshmr music video "Strong”, New Orleans Popeyes Fried Chicken commercial, Toyota commercial, Our Lady Peace’s Moon VS Sun “Lowlight” music video, WGNO's News With A Twist, multiple New Orleans tourism campaigns, etc.

Radio

Radio Lider (Galicia Spain), Radiotelevisione Svizzera (Switzerland), Radio 6 Soul & Jazz (Netherlands), WWOZ & WHIV (New Orleans).

Select Tours

Turkey, Italy, Iceland, France, Switzerland, Spain, England, Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, Wales, USA.

Select Discography (in chronological order)

-LBW Christmas Carols, “10 Hymns From The Lutheran Book Of Worship”, 2009

-The Hemingways of Rock and Roll, “Hemingways of Rock and Roll”, 2009

-Photos of Wagons, “Photos Of Wagons”, 2010

-Gypsy Elise & the Royal Blues, “Red Line”, 2010

-Gypsy Elise & the Royal Blues, “Said the Spider to the Fly”, 2011

-Gypsy Elise & the Royal Blues, “Music Box Watermelon” 2011

-Eddie Cain Irvin, “Eight Minutes Before Dawn Breaks”, 2011

-Sweet Street Symphony, “Hey! You Got Funny Hair!”, 2012

-Soul Project NOLA, “Music for Movers and Shakers”, 2013

-The New Orleans Swamp Donkeys Traditional Jass Band, “Swamp Donkey”, 2014

-The New Orleans Swamp Donkeys Traditional Jass Band, “Donkey Business”, 2014

-Photos of Wagons, “Welcome Home”, 2015

-Lagniappe Brass Band, “Lagniappe Brass Band”, 2015

-New Orleans Swamp Donkeys Traditional Jass Band, “Slightly Concussed”, 2017

-The Soul Project NOLA, The Long Hustle”, 2017

-Doyle Cooper Jazz Band, “Yeah You Right”, 2017

-New Orleans Swamp Donkeys, “A Fine Romance”, 2017

-Mark Levron, “Mark Levron Presents Hacienda Brass Band”, 2017

-Emma Carlson Berne, “Fourth Of July”, 2019

-Max Ribner, “1st Language”, 2021

-Joshua “Jams” Marotta Featuring The New Orleans Graduates, “Brass Band Tunes”, 2021

-Haruka Kikuchi, “Japan: New Orleans Collection Series Vol. 12”, 2023

-Fritzel’s Jazz Band, “Where Jazz Lives”, 2023

Music

Brass Band Joshua “Jams” Marotta featuring The New Orleans Graduates, “Jambalaya”

Brass Band Joshua “Jams” Marotta featuring The New Orleans Graduates, “Saints”

Brass Band Lagniappe Brass Band, Got Docked

Traditional Jazz The New Orleans Swamp Donkeys featuring Alia Shawkat, “A Fine Romance”

Traditional Jazz The New Orleans Swamp Donkeys, “Maple Leaf Rag”

Pop Drums Eddie Cain Irvin, “Take ‘Em And Run”

Soul Max Ribner featuring Rising Appalachia, “Honey”

Afro Celtic Funk Soulsha, “Banks of Marble”

Funk Soul Project, “Stung”

Punk The Hemingways Of Rock And Roll, “We Can Fxxx You Up”

Blues Gypsy Elise & The Royal Blues, “Ain’t Even Close”

Videos

Photo Gallery

Contact

Get in touch.

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