[10mfan]

Great alto player I am sure many of you guys don't know about.
I got turned onto him in the early 80's when I was playing only alto and REALLY HEAVY into that Desmond/Pepper/Konitz sound.

I was listening this morning, and wanted to introduce some of you to Gigi Gryce.
I remember transcribing this at Berklee in 1984.

My next alto mouthpiece that I release, will have this type of vibe.

This is killer.... his sound here is reminiscent of Art Peppers sound in the late 50's.

 

[PaulC]

That was excellent. Thanks for sharing.

 

[10mfan]

Thank you, Paul. Always good to put stuff out there that you think others may not have heard.
He is such a great player and had a beautiful sound.

 

[Jazzoetry]

I Often listen to GiGi Gryce with Clifford Brown.
Clifford Brown and Gigi Gryce "The Paris Collection".

 

[10mfan]

I love that record!


Clifford is amazing on “It might as well be spring”.

 

[Somes]

I like listening to the Jazz Lab albums he did with Donald Byrd. There was a reissue of all of that stuff a while back.

 

[tony51]

Nica's Tempo is a great album, half big band, half quartet with Thelonious Monk. It couldn't find it on Youtube, but you can read about it here.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/nicas-tempo-mw0000092265

 

[Keith Ridenhour]

I heard him back in college with an alto summit. I think it was Richie Cole, Gigi, Pony Poindexter and someone else. Cool to hear all the stylistic differences K

 

[Lambros]

He was also quite a flute player as well. A while back a newly mastered Howard McGhee sextet album was released with Gigi on alto and flute. This group also featured Horace Silver and Tal Farlow. Definitely worth checking out

 

[GCinCT]

Thanks for sharing that. Very nice. Gigi Gryce is unfortunately often overlooked.

 

[Rackety Sax]

I heard him back in college with an alto summit. I think it was Richie Cole, Gigi, Pony Poindexter and someone else. Cool to hear all the stylistic differences K

A recording? I'd be interested in details if you can dredge them up.

 

[10mfan]

Yes, that would be very cool to hear! I love all those guys.

 

[rcpayne]

I remember hearing Gryce the first time on a Clifford Brown album a friend had, and wondering who this guy was because he sounded sooo good. Thanks for posting this! Time to get some more albums. Here's someone who you might not have heard of, Gary Foster who I was lucky enough to have as a band director when I was playing in the Pasadena City big band back in 1981:

 

[Lambros]

His sound on this is amazing and although he doesn't take a solo, McGhee, Farlow, and Silver play briefly excellent solos before Gryce's theme returns. Excellent full alto tone...

 

[10mfan]

Yep, a beautiful player for sure!

 

[TroubleClef]

Thanks for posting this, I've always enjoyed his playing too. He had a relatively short career so that probably accounts for his being overlooked. He also played on some really good albums with Art Farmer and Benny Golson, also provided great compositions and arrangements to those and other albums of theirs. As good as his playing is, he seems to have a more recognized legacy as a composer and arranger because of songs like Minority and others that wound up on other artists albums or have been covered a lot.