Gigi Gryce
"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
- 1955 Do It Yourself Jazz ( Signal , Savoy) with Duke Jordan , Oscar Pettiford , Kenny Clarke
- 1955 Nica's Tempo ( Savoy Records )
- 1957 Jazz Laboratory Series 1 + 2 (Savoy Records)
- 1957 Jazz Lab (Columbia)
- 1957 Modern Jazz Perspective (Columbia)
- 1960 Sayin 'Something (Prestige)
- 1960 The Hap'nin's (Prestige)
- 1960 The Rat Race Blues (Prestige)
As a sideman
- Clifford Brown: Memorial Album ( Blue Note , 1953)
- Art Farmer: When Farmer Meets Gryce (Prestige, 1954)
- Thelonious Monk: Monk's Music ( Riverside Records )
literature
- Noal Cohen, Michael Fitzgerald: Rat Race Blues: The Musical Life of Gigi Gryce (2002). Berkeley, California: Berkeley Hills Books.
- Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1800 bands and artists from the beginning until today. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01892-X .
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide of Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
- Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 1: A – L (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16512). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-499-16512-0 .
- Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
Web links
- Detailed information
- Hardbop.com
- Gigi Gryce at Allmusic (English)
- Gigi Gryce at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ 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
- ↑ Kunzler Jazz-Lexikon, p. 2002 (see JL vol. 1, p. 469)
- ↑ 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 |