Jazz Articles about Dave Grusin

Dave Grusin

by Joseph Vella
June 4, 2021

Dave Grusin: Now Playing: Movie Themes - Solo Piano

by David Rickert
September 11, 2004

Successful film music is designed to enhance rather than dominate a scene, and thus many soundtrack albums, when removed from the context of the movie, are little more than nice background music. However, Grusin, a talented and well-known composer of film scores, has created new interpretation of some of the themes from his past work, many of which stand quite well on their own.

Although Grusin has jazz chops, many of his works borrow ideas from other genres, ...

Dave Grusin: Now Playing

by Mark Sabbatini
July 22, 2004

Pianist Dave Grusin built much of his reputation composing and playing scores for movies like On Golden Pond during the 1970s and '80s. His latest album is, depending on your point of view, either a trip down memory lane or another round of milking the cash cow.

Now Playing features fifteen solo performances of scores by Grusin, who in his linear notes refers to the challenges of arranging the pieces since they were generally written for orchestras. ...

Dave Grusin: West Side Story

by Jim Santella
January 1, 1998

It's been forty years already since West Side Story premiered on Broadway in New York City; since then, jazz luminaries such as Stan Kenton, Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, and Dave Liebman have released recorded collections of Leonard Bernstein's exciting music from that score. Individual songs from the musical, such as “Somewhere," “Maria," and “Tonight," have become standards in everybody's book. For Dave Grusin's look at the familiar theater score, he's brought together a core rhythm section that includes John Patitucci ...

Dave Grusin: Two for the Road

by Dave Hughes
November 1, 1997

What can you say about Dave Grusin that hasn't already been said? He's quite simply one of the most universally talented musicians alive today. He's done it all: pianist, composer, arranger, producer, label owner, soundtrack scorer. Unfortunately, with all his other commitments and undertakings, Dave Grusin albums have become fewer and farther between.

This new one is worth the wait! In keeping with the format of two previous albums, this one is a tribute album to Henry Mancini. (The previous ...

Dave Grusin: Two For The Road

by Douglas Payne
July 1, 1997

Jazz has always loved the music of Henry Mancini and, lately, quite a few albums have been released in tribute to the late film composer. But this one makes sense: a film composer with a vivid imagination and a deep respect for jazz gets interpreted by a jazz player who himself has scored many films over the last 30 years. Grusin, in his third of recent tribute discs (Duke Ellington and George Gershwin were the others), is very well suited ...