Home » Jazz Articles » Gigi Gryce
Jazz Articles about Gigi Gryce
Remembering Gigi Gryce
by Larry Slater
Saxophonist and composer Gigi Gryce was a fixture on the East Coast jazz scene in the 1950's and early 1960s, working with many of the giants of the era. A talented saxophonist known for his writing and arranging, he recorded with everyone from Clifford Brown and Donald Byrd to Art Blakey and Benny Golson. In the early '60s he quit the jazz scene and seemed to disappear, leaving many wondering as to his fate. Aside from his many ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk, John Coltrane: Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane 1957. Revisited.
by Stefano Merighi
Ci sono sodalizi artistici che segnano in maniera indelebile la ricchezza creativa dei protagonisti. Tra questi, di sicuro quello tra Thelonious Monk e John Coltrane, anno di grazia 1957. L'estroso pianista e compositore, ancora lontano dal ricevere i riconoscimenti meritati, trova finalmente qualcuno che interpreta le sue partiture con rara dialettica esecutiva: leggerezza e profondità, acume sottile e abbandono istintivo. L'apollineo sassofonista, all'epoca ancora turbato dalla tossicodipendenza, passa dalla frustrazione di un licenziamento da parte di ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk: With John Coltrane 1957 Revisited
by Chris May
Once again, the ezz-thetics label has taken some of the finest artefacts of mid-twentieth-century US jazz and sonically restored them, bringing an unprecedented level of clarity, precision and presence. It is no exaggeration to say that the Swiss-based label's work can be compared with the restoration of Michelangelo's frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel during the 1980s, both in terms of the quality of the original material and the artistry with which the renovation has been executed. The ...
Continue ReadingGigi Gryce
by AAJ Staff
From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in 2002. Gigi Gryce was a special kind of musician—the kind often overlooked by the mainstream jazz world today, but widely respected by those familiar with his all too brief time under the jazz spotlight of the 1950s. More often rated as a composer first, and an altoist second, his star burnt brightly in the later be-bop era that gave way to hard bop. Although he ...
Continue Reading
