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Wardell Gray
Wardell Gray (February 13, 1921 – May 25, 1955) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
The youngest of four children, Gray was born in Oklahoma City. He spent his early childhood years in Oklahoma before he and his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1929.
In early 1935, Gray began attending Northeastern High School, he was then transferred to Cass Technical High School. He left in 1936, before graduating. Advised by his brother-in-law Junior Warren, Gray as a teenager started learning the clarinet. However, after hearing Lester Young on record with Count Basie, he was inspired to switch to the tenor saxophone.
Gray's first musical job was in Isaac Goodwin's small band, a part-time band that played local dances. When auditioning for another job, he was heard by Dorothy Patton, a young pianist who was forming a band in the Fraternal Club in Flint, Michigan, she later hired him. After a year there, he moved to Jimmy Raschel's band (Raschel had recorded a few sides earlier in the 1930s but did not do so again), and then to the Benny Carew band in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Around this time, he met Jeanne Goings; they had a daughter, Anita, born in January 1941.
Near the Congo Club was the Three Sixes. A young dancer, Jeri Walker, knew Earl Hines, and when the Hines band came through Detroit in late 1943, she persuaded Hines to hire Gray on alto saxophone since there was no tenor saxophone job at the time. This was a break for the 21-year-old, as the Earl Hines Orchestra was not only nationally known but had nurtured the careers of emerging bebop musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Although most of them had left when Gray joined, playing with the Hines band was a stimulating experience. He married Jeri Walker in Chicago in September 1945.
He left Hines late in 1946, settling in Los Angeles, California; soon after arriving, he recorded the first session under his name. This was a quartet session for Eddie Laguna's Sunset label, and on it Wardell was supported by Dodo Marmarosa on piano. The date produced "Easy Swing" and "The Man I Love".
In Los Angeles, Wardell worked with Benny Carter, blues singer Ivory Joe Hunter, and the small group that supported singer Billy Eckstine on a tour of the West Coast. But the real focus in Los Angeles was in clubs along Central Avenue, which were still thriving after the boom years brought about by the injection of wartime defence spending. Here Wardell played in after-hours sessions in clubs such as Jack's Basket Room, the Down Beat, Lovejoy's, and the Club Alabama. His early success in these sessions led Ross Russell to include him in a studio session he was organizing for his Dial label.
In the Central Avenue clubs Wardell held tenor battles with Dexter Gordon. Gordon recalled: "There'd be a lot of cats on the stand, but by the end of the session, it would wind up with Wardell and myself... His playing was very fluid, very clean.... He had a lot of drive and a profusion of ideas". Their fame began to spread, and Ross Russell managed to get them to simulate one of their battles on "The Chase", which became Wardell's first nationally known recording and has been called "one of the most exciting musical contests in the history of jazz".
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Wardell Gray
Wardell Gray (February 13, 1921 – May 25, 1955) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
The youngest of four children, Gray was born in Oklahoma City. He spent his early childhood years in Oklahoma before he and his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1929.
In early 1935, Gray began attending Northeastern High School, he was then transferred to Cass Technical High School. He left in 1936, before graduating. Advised by his brother-in-law Junior Warren, Gray as a teenager started learning the clarinet. However, after hearing Lester Young on record with Count Basie, he was inspired to switch to the tenor saxophone.
Gray's first musical job was in Isaac Goodwin's small band, a part-time band that played local dances. When auditioning for another job, he was heard by Dorothy Patton, a young pianist who was forming a band in the Fraternal Club in Flint, Michigan, she later hired him. After a year there, he moved to Jimmy Raschel's band (Raschel had recorded a few sides earlier in the 1930s but did not do so again), and then to the Benny Carew band in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Around this time, he met Jeanne Goings; they had a daughter, Anita, born in January 1941.
Near the Congo Club was the Three Sixes. A young dancer, Jeri Walker, knew Earl Hines, and when the Hines band came through Detroit in late 1943, she persuaded Hines to hire Gray on alto saxophone since there was no tenor saxophone job at the time. This was a break for the 21-year-old, as the Earl Hines Orchestra was not only nationally known but had nurtured the careers of emerging bebop musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Although most of them had left when Gray joined, playing with the Hines band was a stimulating experience. He married Jeri Walker in Chicago in September 1945.
He left Hines late in 1946, settling in Los Angeles, California; soon after arriving, he recorded the first session under his name. This was a quartet session for Eddie Laguna's Sunset label, and on it Wardell was supported by Dodo Marmarosa on piano. The date produced "Easy Swing" and "The Man I Love".
In Los Angeles, Wardell worked with Benny Carter, blues singer Ivory Joe Hunter, and the small group that supported singer Billy Eckstine on a tour of the West Coast. But the real focus in Los Angeles was in clubs along Central Avenue, which were still thriving after the boom years brought about by the injection of wartime defence spending. Here Wardell played in after-hours sessions in clubs such as Jack's Basket Room, the Down Beat, Lovejoy's, and the Club Alabama. His early success in these sessions led Ross Russell to include him in a studio session he was organizing for his Dial label.
In the Central Avenue clubs Wardell held tenor battles with Dexter Gordon. Gordon recalled: "There'd be a lot of cats on the stand, but by the end of the session, it would wind up with Wardell and myself... His playing was very fluid, very clean.... He had a lot of drive and a profusion of ideas". Their fame began to spread, and Ross Russell managed to get them to simulate one of their battles on "The Chase", which became Wardell's first nationally known recording and has been called "one of the most exciting musical contests in the history of jazz".