Wardell Gray (February 13, 1921 – May 25, 1955) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Biography

Early years

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. 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. 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. Their fame began to spread, and Ross Russell managed to get them to simulate one of their battles on "The Chase",

The success of "The Chase" was the break Wardell needed, and he became increasingly prominent in public sessions in and around Los Angeles, including a series of jam sessions organized by the disc jockey Gene Norman.

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.

Bill Moody's book Death of a Tenor Man tells the story of a contemporary investigation of Wardell's death by fictional detective/pianist Evan Horne.

Jack Kerouac explicitly references Wardell in his novel On the Road: "They ate voraciously as Neal, sandwich in hand, stood bowed and jumping before the big phonograph listening to a wild bop record I just bought called 'The Hunt', with Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray blowing their tops before a screaming audience that gave the record fantastic frenzied volume."

Discography

As leader

  • Tenor Sax Favorites (Prestige PRLP 115, 1951) 10" LP
  • Gene Norman Presents... The Chase and the Steeplechase (Decca DL 7025, 1952) 10" LP; with Dexter Gordon
  • Jazz Concert with Wardell Gray All Stars (Prestige PRLP 128, 1953) 10" LP
  • Los Angeles All Stars (Prestige PRLP 147, 1953) 10" LP
  • Wardell Gray Memorial, Volume One (Prestige PRLP 7008, 1955)
  • Wardell Gray Memorial, Volume Two (Prestige PRLP 7009, 1955)
  • Way Out Wardell (Modern LMP 1204, 1956; Crown CLP 5004, 1957)
  • Memorial Album (Prestige PR 7343, 1965) 2-LP
  • Central Avenue (Prestige 24062, 1976) 2-LP
  • Live in Hollywood (Xanadu 146, 1977)
  • Wardell Gray & Dexter Gordon: The Chase And The Steeple Chase [Jazz Heritage Series, Vol. 37] (MCA 1336, 1980) reissue
  • Light Gray (Cool & Blue 116, 1994) compilation of Sittin' In With, Apollo, Seeco, and Prestige masters from 1948-1950
  • The Chronological Wardell Gray 1946-1950 (Classics, 2002)
  • The Wardell Gray Story (Proper, 2003) 4-CD box set
  • The Chronological Wardell Gray 1950-1955 (Classics, 2008)

As sideman

With Count Basie

  • The Old Count and the New Count (Epic LG 1021, 1954) 10" LP
  • Blues By Basie (Columbia CL 901, 1956)
  • One O'Clock Jump (Columbia CL 997, 1957)
  • The Octet Sounds (Ocium [Spain] OCM 0002, 2001) compilation

With Louis Bellson

  • Just Jazz All-Stars (Capitol H348, 1952) 10" LP
  • Skin Deep (Norgran MGN 1046, 1955)

With Tadd Dameron Septet

  • The Fabulous Fats Navarro, Vol. 2 (Blue Note BLP 1532, 1957)

With Benny Goodman

  • Undercurrent Blues (Capitol Jazz 72438 32086 23, 1995) compilation

With Frank Morgan

  • Frank Morgan (Gene Norman Presents/GNP 12, 1955)

Further reading

  • Gioia, Ted (1992). West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960. University of California Press. .
  • Moody, Bill (1995). Death Of A Tenor Man, Dell Publishing, .
  • Bjorn, Lars, and Jim Gallert (2001). Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920-60. University of Michigan Press. .

References

  • Abraham Ravett's site 'Forgotten Tenor' based around his film on Wardell.
  • Wardell Gray Website: This site provides a full discography, chronology and many other features about Wardell Gray
  • Album: Way Out Wardell, With Wardell Gray, Erroll Garner, Vido Musso (ts), Howard McGhee (tp), Arnold Ross (p), Barney Kessel (g), Harry Babasin (b), Don Lamond (ds), Recorded：Los Angeles, CA, February 27, 1947.