Gigi Gryce

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"Gigi Gryce" , officially George General Grice jun. (aka Lee Sears, * 28. November 1925 in Pensacola , † 17th March 1983 in Pensacola) was an American jazz - saxophonist , composer and arranger . He also used the pseudonyms Basheer Qusim (Islamic name) and Lee Sears .

Live and act

Gigi Gryce was one of the early hardbop musicians. His saxophone tone was influenced by both Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz . He was a member of the Jazz Messengers .

Gryce studied music (clarinet, alto saxophone, piano, flute) and composition at the Boston Conservatory and in 1952 as a Fulbright scholar with Arthur Honegger in Paris . He played professionally since 1946 and had his own big band. a. with Horace Silver . After returning from Paris, he worked with Howard McGhee and Max Roach . In 1953 he went on a European tour with the Lionel Hampton Band - Art Farmer - and worked with Tadd Dameron and Clifford Brown . For his session in August 1953, which appeared on the Memorial album , he also wrote compositions and arrangements. It was in particular his compositions, such as “Nica's Tempo” and works for larger ensembles, with which he earned his reputation in the jazz scene. He also wrote for Stan Getz , Dakota Staton, and Ernestine Anderson .

From 1955 to 1957 he worked with Oscar Pettiford , for whom he also composed. In 1957 he played on Thelonious Monks album Monk's Music on the side of Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane . From 1957 he led the Jazz Lab Quartet with trumpeter Donald Byrd with Pettiford and Tommy Flanagan , with whom he also performed at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival . Blakey recorded the arrangements and compositions he recorded for Ritual , where Gryce was called under the pseudonym Lee Sears, which is his wife's name. Gryce has also worked in quintets with Wynton Kelly , Jimmy Cleveland , Sahib Shihab , Art Taylor , Phil Woods and Kenny Clarke . From 1959 he led his own band again, but gradually withdrew from the jazz scene after his album The Rat Race Blues (1960) to work as a music teacher.

Discographic notes

As a leader

As a sideman

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anniversary of death according to Jazz Rough Guide and Carlo Bohländer u. a. Reclams Jazzführer 1989 and Leonard Feather & Ira Gitler Bibliographical Encyclopedia of Jazz 1999
  2. ↑ Kunzler Jazz-Lexikon, p. 2002 (see JL vol. 1, p. 469)
  3. ↑ Liner Notes on Ritual by Michael Cuscuna
personal data
SURNAME Gryce, Gigi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grice, George General Junior (real name); Basheer Qusim (pseudonym); Lee Sears (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Pensacola
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1983
Place of death Pensacola