Terry Graves

When Terry was four years old his family noticed that he was picking out melodies on an old upright piano at home. After tutoring from his mother, she enrolled him in formal lessons at the age of five. One of the first times he played publicly was for his aunt’s wedding when he was six. By seven, he was in quite demand by civic organizations around west Tennessee which he played for regularly. It had been observed around this time that Terry recognized notes naturally by their sound. As a game at times, the family would gather around the piano, hands all over the keyboard, striking seven or eight notes simultaneously while Terry was blindfolded. He would invariably recognize and name the notes correctly.

Though Terry was trained in classical music, he and his two brothers had formed a rock band by the time he was ten. The band ended when his oldest brother (who played the guitar) was killed in a car accident at the age of sixteen.

Terry had been in several rock bands through his youth. However, he progressively found himself writing his own songs, which didn’t exactly fit the rock genre.

The influences in his early years were wide and beneficial in cultivating the creativity/variety which is revealed in his compositions and improv today.

Ultimately, there is now a sound that is very much Terry's own. Here, on his new CD, To Fly Higher, we have fourteen originals songs where great melodies flow from fluent piano.

They supply a refreshing mix of jazz/rock/improv (and a little “hard to classify”) with an edge of classical emerging at times.

Terry enjoys and primarily plays improv now, though he has quite an archive of written compositions.

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