Tony Markellis (10 September 1952 – 29 April 2021) was a

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, born in

Helena, Montana Helena (; ) is the capital city of Montana, United States, and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and established on October 30, 1864. Due to the gold rush, Helena would ...

, to a Turkish immigrant, Constantine Markellis, and the daughter of Greek immigrants, Victoria Carkulis, residing in

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 2 ...

from 1975 until his death. Markellis was best known as the bass guitarist for the

Trey Anastasio Band Since 1998, Trey Anastasio, best known from Phish, has toured and recorded with several backing musicians, including several side-projects organized and led by the guitarist and composer. Fans commonly referred to them as Trey Anastasio Band, o ...

and various other groups led by

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...

guitarist

Trey Anastasio Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish o ...

Career

In his forty-seven year career he played blues, folk, jazz, rock, country, and bluegrass with musicians such as

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...

The Mamas & the Papas The Mamas & the Papas were a folk rock vocal group formed in Los Angeles, California, which recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968. The group was a defining force in the music scene of the counterculture of the 1960s. The group consisted of Am ...

Johnny Shines John Ned Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist. Biography Shines was born in the community of Frayser, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was taught to play the guitar by his mother and spent most of h ...

David Bromberg David Bromberg (born September 19, 1945) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. David Bromberg biographyat Billboard.com An eclectic artist, Bromberg plays bluegrass, blues, folk, jazz, country and western, and rock a ...

David Amram David Werner Amram III (born November 17, 1930) is an American composer, arranger, and conductor of orchestral, chamber, and choral works, many with jazz flavorings.

Paul Siebel Paul Karl Siebel (September 19, 1937 – April 5, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, born in Buffalo, New York. He is best known for other artists' cover versions of his songs, most notably "Louise". Other frequently cov ...

Rosalie Sorrels Rosalie Sorrels (June 24, 1933 – June 11, 2017) was an American folk singer-songwriter. She began her public career as a singer and collector of traditional folksongs in the late 1950s. During the early 1960s she left her husband and began trav ...

Eric Von Schmidt Eric Von Schmidt (May 28, 1931 – February 2, 2007) was an American singer and guitarist, songwriter, painter and illustrator, and Grammy Award recipient. He was associated with the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s and a key part o ...

Ellen McIlwaine Ellen McIlwaine (October 1, 1945 – June 23, 2021) was an American-born singer-songwriter and musician best known for her career as a solo singer, songwriter and slide guitarist. Biography Born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, McIlwa ...

Mary McCaslin Mary McCaslin (December 22, 1946 – October 2, 2022) was an American folk singer who wrote, recorded, and performed contemporary folk music. Early life McCaslin was born in Indianapolis on December 22, 1946, and was raised in Southern Californ ...

, Railbird, Jo Henley, and Floodwood. Markellis was a founding member of the groundbreaking Vermont-based jazz fusion group

Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...

, as well as the Unknown Blues Band featuring Big Joe Burrell. In the late 1990s, Markellis became the first member of the first solo band of

guitarist

, forming the

rhythm section A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm sec ...

with

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Russ Lawton Russ Lawton is a professional drummer from Vermont. He is best known as the drummer from the solo band of Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. Lawton also performs with the Vermont jam band Strangefolk and The Chrome Cowboys. Lawton performed on ...

. Including his work with Anastasio, Markellis has appeared on over one hundred albums. In addition to tours with the Trey Anastasio Band, he was working with

, singer/songwriters

Michael Jerling Michael Jerling is an American acoustic folk singer-songwriter. He was born in Illinois and attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. His association with Fast Folk Musical Magazine in New York's Greenwich Village led to his song ...

and Bob Warren, Ghosts of the Forest (a Phish/TAB hybrid), Mardi Gras carnival funk band Krewe Orleans, and occasionally with Americana band Jo Henley. On June 20, 2010 (Fathers Day), Tony was invited on stage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) to play bass with Phish on "Gotta Jibboo" (one of the songs he cowrote with Trey and

for the Trey Anastasio Band). Phish's bassist, Mike Gordon played the second guitar during the song. One of Markellis' final public performances was accompanying Anastasio for the majority of his "Beacon Jams" series of livestream concert series in the fall of 2020, which were held in the empty Beacon Theatre during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Death

Markellis died on April 29, 2021.

Notes

External links

* * 2021 deaths American bass guitarists People from Helena, Montana 1952 births {{US-bass-guitarist-stub