The Mysterious Gigi

that must be a hilarious arrangement

I have been thinking a lot about Gigi Gryce lately. One the finest writers, saxophonists and arrangers of the 1950s and '60s, he walked away from jazz to teach public school for reasons that remain mysterious. I love Gigi and could listen to him all day long. There is something extremely intriguing about his playing and I could listen for a week straight (why stop at a single day?) and I'm not sure I'd be any closer to explaining just what it is about his music that pulls me in.

His recordings with Donald Byrd are essential (you can get a good set from iTunes for next to nothing!), but then again, Gigi recorded so little that anything he was involved with is a worthwhile purchase. He also recorded with some of the other finest trumpet players of the era, Art Farmer (another one of my favourites), Lee Morgan (how can you not love Lee?) and Clifford Brown (who died to young, (25), as did Lee Morgan (33) for that matter, but we don't dwell on the negative here, do we? No, let's focus on the music instead of car accidents and murder.)

Not only did he prove that glasses and sweater-vests are extremely cool, (thanks for paving the way, Gigi!) but he left behind a scattering of wonderful music that is just screaming out for someone like Mosaic Records to pull together in some multi-disc retrospective that will help ensure Gigi's lasting legacy.

sweater vests are cool

As a songwriter he wrote a few songs that have become standards including 'Minority' that has been recorded by just about everybody.

Enjoy the music my friends and perhaps you too will become enthralled by Gigi who may or may not have had his house firebombed by gangsters, would have a public school named after him and would change his name to Basheer Qusim. Intrigued? I thought so. Since I miss you so much, I will offer another musical present: Gigi and Monk playing another of his standards, 'Nica's Dream'. I look forward to hearing how much you love it.