Jazz Articles about Gigi Gryce

About Gigi Gryce

Radio & Podcasts

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 ...

Album Review

Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane: Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane 1957. Revisited.

Read "Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane 1957. Revisited." reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
May 16, 2025

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 ...

Album Review

Thelonious Monk: With John Coltrane 1957 Revisited

Read "With John Coltrane 1957 Revisited" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
December 26, 2023

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 ...

Profile

Gigi Gryce

by AAJ Staff
October 9, 2002

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 ...