Loading details…
Artist
Wardell Gray
12+ albums
bebopjazzsaxophoneswingfunky
about
Wardell Gray (February 13, 1921 – May 25, 1955) was an American swing and bebop jazz tenor saxophonist. Wardell Gray was born in Oklahoma City, the youngest of four children. His early childhood years were spent in Oklahoma, before moving with his family to Detroit, Michigan in 1929. In early 1935, Gray began attending Northeastern High School, and then transferred to Cass Technical High School, which is noted for having Donald Byrd, Lucky Thompson and Al McKibbon as alumni. He left in 1936, before graduating. Advised by his brother-in-law Junior Warren, as a teenager he started on the clarinet, but 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 outfit 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, and she hired him. After a very happy 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 on to the Benny Carew band in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was at around this time that he met Jeanne Goings; together they had a daughter, Anita, who was born in January 1941. Just up the road from the Congo Club was the Three Sixes; Jeri knew Earl Hines, and when the Hines band came through Detroit in late 1943, she persuaded Earl to hire Wardell - on alto, si
top songs
albums
Wardell Gray Memorial, Vol. 1
Jazz Foundations, Vol. 73 (Wardell Gray)
BD Music & Cabu Present Wardell Gray
▥
BeBop Jazz Essentials
Ultimate Hits
Light Gray
The Very Best Of
Wardell Gray Vol. 2 (1948-49)
Matter and Mind
▥
Milestones of Jazz Saxophone Legends: Very Saxy, Vol. 10
Way Out Wardell
The Wardell Gray Story