Paul's Cause - Music

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 Since There Was No Tenor Vacancy At The Time.
This Was A Big Break For The 21-Year-Old As The Earl Hines Orchestra Was Not Only Nationally-Known But It Had Nurtured The Careers Of Some Of The Emerging Bebop Musicians Including Dizzy Gillespie And Charlie Parker. Although Most Of Them Had Left By The Time Gray Joined Playing With The Hines Band Was Still A Lively And Stimulating Experience For The Young Tenor Player. They Toured All Over The Country And It Was When They Were In California That Gray Met Dorothy Duvall They Were Immediately Attracted To One Another. Dorothy Was Married But Although The Marriage Was On The Point Of Collapse An Unfortunate Intervention By A "friend" Led Gray To Believe That This Was Not So And He Returned To Jeri They Were Married In Chicago In September 1945.
Wardell Spent Approximately Three Years With Hines And Matured Rapidly During This Time. He Soon Became A Featured Soloist And The Band's Recordings Show A Relaxed Fluent Stylist Very Much In The Lester Young Mold. While Some Of The Live Jubilee Sessions Have Been Reissued On CD 1 The Studio Recordings From 1945-46 Are Still Available Only On LP. He Left Hines Late In 1946 Settling In Los Angeles California Soon After Arriving There He Recorded The First Session Under His Own Name. This Was A Quartet Session For Eddie Laguna's Sunset Label And On It Wardell Had Strong Support From Dodo Marmarosa On Piano. The Date Produced Some Excellent Sides Notably "Easy Swing" And "The Man I Love" There Is A Reissue Of The Whole Session Including Alternate Takes 2 But A Selection Is Available On 12 .
In Los Angeles Wardell Worked In A Number Of Bands Including Benny Carter The 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 LA At This Time Was In The Clubs Along Central Avenue Which Was Still Thriving After The Boom Years Brought About By The Huge Injection Of Wartime Defence Spending. Here Wardell Found His Element Playing In The Mainly After-Hours Sessions In Clubs Such As Jack's Basket Room The Down Beat Lovejoy's And The Club Alabam And His Early Success In These Sessions Led Ross Russell To Include Him In A Studio Session He Was Organising For His Dial Label. The Session Was Designed As A Showcase For Charlie Parker But Wardell Acquitted Himself Superbly Showing No Sign At All Of Being Over-Awed By Parker's Presence 3 .
It Was In The Central Avenue Clubs That Wardell Held His Tenor Battles With Dexter Gordon. These Two Were Ideally Matched Wardell's Light Sound And Swift Delivery Were More Than A Match For Dexter's Big Blustering Sound And Their Tenor Jousts Became A Kind Of Symbol For The Central Avenue Scene. Gordon Later 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" 4 Which Became Wardell's First Nationally-Known Recording And Has Been Assessed As "one Of The Most Exciting Musical Contests In The History Of Jazz".
The Success Of "The Chase" Was The Break That Wardell Needed And He Became Increasingly Prominent In Public Sessions In And Around LA Including The "Just Jazz" Series Of Jam Sessions Organised By The Disc Jockey Gene Norman. There Were Concerts At The Pasadena Civic Auditorium And The Shrine Auditorium And Other Venues 5 6 7 . The Session Which Included "Just You Just Me" And "Sweet Georgia Brown" Has Some Of Wardell's Best Playing But The Only CD Version Of This Is Crudely Abbreviated. Several Unedited Versions Of These Performances Have Since Been Issued. Apart From A Spell With A Little Band Led By Al Killian Some Jubilee Recordings By This Group 8 Show Wardell In Fine Form Wardell Was Still Working Mainly In One-Off Sessions During 1947. However At A Concert Around The Turn Of That Year Which Also Featured Benny Goodman Wardell So Impressed The Clarinettist That Goodman Hired Him For A Small Group Which He Was Just Setting Up As Part Of His Flirtation With Bebop. Goodman Had Previously Been Highly Critical Of Bop Playing But Speaking Of Wardell To Metronome Magazine He Said That "if He's Bop That's Great. He's Wonderful!"
Goodman's New Group Included The Young Swedish Clarinettist Ake "Stan" Hasselgard And Initially Teddy Wilson And It Opened At Frank Palumbo's Click Club In Philadelphia In May 1948. Enthusiasts Recorded The Nightly Broadcasts From The Club Some Of The Best Of Which Have Been Released On CD 9 And They Contain Some Superbly Relaxed Fluent Tenor Work From Wardell. There Is Little Sign Of Bop In The Group's Playing The Only Noticeable Influence Being In Some Of Wardell's Phrasing And In Aspects Of Mary Lou Williams' Arrangements For The Band.
The Group Was Not However A Financial Success And Goodman Eventually Broke It Up But By Now Wardell Was Fully Established On The East Coast As An Up-And-Coming Musician. For A While In Late 1948/early 1949 He Worked With The Count Basie Orchestra While Also Managing To Record With Tadd Dameron 10 And In Excellent Quartet And Quintet Sessions With Al Haig 11 12 . The Quartet Session Included "Twisted" One Of Wardell's Best-Known Recordings Which Was Used As The Basis For A Best-Selling Vocalese Version By Annie Ross.
Wardell Left Basie In 1949 To Return To Benny Goodman. However Life In The Goodman Band Became Increasingly Uncongenial For Him. In Addition His Marriage To Jeri Was Breaking Up. Goodman Was Not An Easy Employer At The Best Of Times And This Combined With The Constant Travelling Made Wardell Increasingly Unhappy Recordings Of The Band Both Studio Sessions 13 And Live Airshots 14 15 Feature Work By Wardell That Is Below His Own Best Standards. That It Is The Goodman Surroundings That Was The Problem Rather Than Any Fall-Off In Wardell's Ability Is Shown In A Session Recorded With Local Musicians In Detroit 11 18 Wardell's Work On This Session Is Exemplary .
On Leaving Goodman Wardell Rejoined Count Basie. Basie Had Bowed To Economic Pressures And Broken Up His Big Band Forming A Septet Which Included Clark Terry And Buddy DeFranco Wardell Joined Them In Probably July 1950. This Setting Was A Much Happier One For Him And The Group Enjoyed Some Success Airshots From The Time Show A Very Relaxed Swinging Band With No Weak Links 16 .
It Was During This Good Time From A Musical Point Of View That Wardell's Personal Life Also Became Happier. He Was Finally Divorced From Jeri And Was At Last Free To Marry Dorothy And Together With Dorothy's Daughter Paula They Set Up In A Little House In Los Angeles.
The Only Drawback To Working With Basie Who Had By Now Enlarged His Group Again To Big Band Size Was The Constant Travelling And Wardell Eventually Decided To Leave So That He Could Enjoy More Home Life. The Decision Was Entirely Understandable Though The Basie Rhythm Section Was Ideally Suited To Wardell's Brand Of Swing And From A Musical Point Of View Enthusiasts For His Playing May Regret His Decision. And An Unexpected Side-Effect Was That Because Work In The LA Area Was Short For Black Musicians Anyway Wardell Still Had To Travel Frequently In Search Of Jobs. Nevertheless Life At Home Was Good And One Of The Few Interviews That He Ever Gave To The British Melody Maker Showed That He Was Very Happy.
In 1950 Gray Played A Live Concert At The San Francisco Veteran's Memorial Hall As A Guest With Gerald Wilson's Band. Remarkably Captured In High Fidelity Stereo The Only Such Example In His Discography This Recording Was Released For The First Time In 2006 17 . Gray Can Be Heard In Fine Form During Featured Solo Spots With Small Combo Backup On "Nice Work If You Can Get It" And "Indiana" And Also With Wilson's Big Band On The Blues "Hollywood Freeway" Where Gray Trades Exciting Choruses With Zoot Sims And Stan Getz. At Around This Time His Recording Sessions Started Becoming Fewer—though A Live Session With Dexter Gordon Recreating The Excitements Of Central Avenue And A Studio Session With Art Farmer And Hampton Hawes Both On 18 Have Fine Examples Of Wardell's Playing.
However There Are Increasing Signs Of A Lack Of Engagement In Wardell's Work Around 1951/52 Notably In A Further Live Session With Dexter Gordon From February 1952 5 And It Seems That He May Have Been Becoming Disillusioned With The Music Business. That He Was Still Capable Of Playing Superbly Is Shown By His Work On A Live Jam Session At The Haig 19 But Such Sessions Were By Now Very Sparse And More Typical Work From This Period Was Recorded On A Session With Teddy Charles 17 .
At Around This Time Gray Apparently Became Involved With Drugs Friends Reported That It Was Beginning To Take Its Toll. His Playing Was Now Less Fluent And A Studio Session In January 1955 12 Which Was To Be His Last Shows Strong But By His Own Standards Rather Unsubtle Playing.
Disappearance And Death Edit Gray Was Still Working Regularly Despite His Drug Problems And When Benny Carter Was Engaged In May 1955 To Provide The Band At The Opening Of The Moulin Rouge Hotel He Called On Gray. He Attended Rehearsals But When The Club Opened On May 25 Gray Was Absent. The Next Day He Was Found On A Stretch Of Desert On The Outskirts Of Las Vegas Dead With A Broken Neck.
Although By Most Accounts There Was A Poor Examination Of Circumstances Gray's Demise Was Ruled An Accidental Death. Foul Play Was Suspected By Some Especially Given Gray's Possible Association With Mob Boss Meyer Lansky.
James Ellroy's Novel The Cold Six Thousand Contains A Reference To Gray's Disappearance And Death According To This He Was Murdered By Fictional Racist Conspirator Wayne Tedrow Sr. For Having An Affair With His Wife Janice. Discography Cross-Indexed To The Text Above 1-LaserLight 15 766 Earl Fatha Hines And His Orchestra 2-Black Lion Records BLCD 760106 Wardell Gray One For Prez . These Sessions Are Also Available On The Complete Sunset And New Jazz Masters CD.
3-Spotlite SPJ- CD 109-2 Charlie Parker The Dial Masters Double Album 4-Spotlite SPJ- CD 130 Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon On Dial - The Complete Sessions 5-Giants Of Jazz CD 53064 Wardell Gray The Chase 6-Giants Of Jazz CD 53097 Various Artists An Unforgettable Session 1947 Live Recordings From A -Gene Norman Presents "JUST JAZZ" Concert At The Civic Auditorium In Pasadena California.
7-Savoy SV-0164 SV-0165 And SV-0166 Various Artists Jazz West Coast Live/Hollywood Jazz Live - Volumes 1 2 And 3 8-Fresh Sound FSR-CD 156 Sonny Criss California Boppin' 1947 9-Dragon DRCD 183 Stan Hasselgard & Benny Goodman Hasselgard And Goodman At Click 1948 10-Blue Note CDP 7243 8 33373 2 3 Fats Navarro & Tadd Dameron The Complete Blue Note And Capitol Recordings Double Album 11-Cool And Blue C&B-CD 116 Wardell Gray Light Gray 1948–50 12-Swingtime ST CD1 Wardell Gray Easy Swing 1946–55 13-Capitol CDP 7243 8 32086 2 3 Benny Goodman Undercurrent Blues 14-Hep CD36 Benny Goodman Benny's Bop 1948–49 15-Jazz Archives 90.510-2 Benny Goodman 16-Moon MCD 076-2 Wardell Gray How High The Moon 17-Jazz Factory JFCD 22880 Gerald Wilson Big Band Modern 18-Original Jazz Classics OJCCD-050-2 Wardell Gray Memorial - Volume 1 Compilation Of Sessions For Prestige Records From 1949 1950 And 1953.
19-Original Jazz Classics OJCCD-051-2 Wardell Gray Memorial - Volume 2 Another Prestige Compilation These Sessions Are From 1950 And 1952.
20-Fresh Sound FSR-CD 157 Wardell Gray Quintet - Live At The Haig 1952 read less