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Terrence McGraw

A retired physician of 35 years, now playing jazz keyboards full-time

About Me

Terry started playing piano at age six, and continued his music studies into his college years. He began writing music and playng with various jazz combos and big bands in high school. He continued to play with occasional combos throughout college and medical school. As a practicing pediatrician and pediatric anesthesiologist, Terry has continued to perform solo and with small groups for restaurants, lounges and institutional events. During his 20 years at Oregon Health & Science University,Terry combined music and medicine. He has produced music for videos, including one for the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. In addition, in collaboration with some of the Northwest’s finest jazz artists, he has produced two jazz CDs to benefit the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. The first CD, Rearranged, was released in 1995 and included 10 tunes, nine of which were written by Terry. A quartet, including Terry on piano and synthesizers, recorded the pieces mostly in a studio. Of Rearranged: “McGraw has put out one of the best local jazz albums of the year. . . keyboard work is facile and engaging, but the songs are the most impressive aspect of this project. The strength of McGraw’s melodies is such that several songs become stuck in one’s mind after just one listen. Virtually every song comes across as an old friend visiting after a long absence.” —Dan Deprez, Willamett Week (Portland) The latest, Come What May,> was produced in 2004 and raised more than $7,000 for the Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Pain Management Center. He approached this project differently, serving more as writer, arranger and producer. Again, Terry wrote the majority of the tracks, but incorporated 10 musicians in the recording. He received help from Portland jazz station KMHD 89.1 FM in promoting the completed album, which was distributed on the Allegro Music label. Of Come What May: “McGraw shows considerable skill . . . on keyboard, production and as composer.” —Portland Jazz critic Kyle O’Brien

My Jazz Story

I love jazz because...it's egalitarian and interesting and fun I met [Percy Health]...he said I had great hands for a bassist (!) The best show I ever attended was Bill Evans in 1980 The first jazz record I bought was...Monk