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Rat Race Blues: The Musical Life of Gigi Gryce
Gigi Gryce was a saxophonist and composer who worked with some of the best-known names in jazz during the 1950s, including Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Max Roach. His many compositions remain a part of the jazz repertoire today.
His remarkable rise from poverty led to conservatory studies and tours of Europe and Africa before he established himself as a fixture on the New York scene. His efforts as a music publisher were bold and groundbreaking, and his quiet, unassuming personality set him apart from most of his peers. In only a decade as a professional musician, he earned the respect and admiration of his colleagues and served as a mentor to numerous aspiring young players. Gryce’s sudden disappearance at the start of the 1960s left the jazz world wondering as to his fate. Few were aware of his change of identity and professional rebirth.
Misinformation about Gryce abounds and rumors have circulated for decades. Years of research and dozens of interviews were conducted for this book, resulting in a biography that finally tells the true story of this often overlooked figure and illuminates his contributions to one of the richest periods in jazz history. Winner of the 2003 Award for Excellence from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, the first edition has now been updated with new information from another decade’s worth of research and never-before-seen photographs.
His remarkable rise from poverty led to conservatory studies and tours of Europe and Africa before he established himself as a fixture on the New York scene. His efforts as a music publisher were bold and groundbreaking, and his quiet, unassuming personality set him apart from most of his peers. In only a decade as a professional musician, he earned the respect and admiration of his colleagues and served as a mentor to numerous aspiring young players. Gryce’s sudden disappearance at the start of the 1960s left the jazz world wondering as to his fate. Few were aware of his change of identity and professional rebirth.
Misinformation about Gryce abounds and rumors have circulated for decades. Years of research and dozens of interviews were conducted for this book, resulting in a biography that finally tells the true story of this often overlooked figure and illuminates his contributions to one of the richest periods in jazz history. Winner of the 2003 Award for Excellence from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, the first edition has now been updated with new information from another decade’s worth of research and never-before-seen photographs.
404 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 9, 2014
[Revised second edition now available!]
Well, of course I'm going to say that it's an amazing book. But we did write it with a lot of consideration for the readers. Having read a ton of awful jazz biographies (and alas, they keep getting published), we took a great deal of care to avoid the problems and to present something that packs a ton of previously unknown information into a book that is very readable, by both musicians and non-musicians. All the reviews were good, so I guess others liked it too.
Corrections and new information may be found at [http://www.gigigrycebook.com/]
I'm always interested in hearing from readers, so drop me a line!
Well, of course I'm going to say that it's an amazing book. But we did write it with a lot of consideration for the readers. Having read a ton of awful jazz biographies (and alas, they keep getting published), we took a great deal of care to avoid the problems and to present something that packs a ton of previously unknown information into a book that is very readable, by both musicians and non-musicians. All the reviews were good, so I guess others liked it too.
Corrections and new information may be found at [http://www.gigigrycebook.com/]
I'm always interested in hearing from readers, so drop me a line!
March 8, 2021
After listening to some of his music I decided to find out more about the person and his life. The commitment to the musical path he took I respect. Not a thrilling life story, he comes across as serious, controlled and kind, and nobody knows exactly why he pulled out of the whole scene.... since he was a go to person for mostly black composers who wanted to keep control of the publishing rights, it seems he must have been weighed on heavily by the gangsters in charge, to the point where he felt very personally pressured or threatened by people, living in fear. Perhaps his spiritual convictions took over with time as he "switched" (or grew) in to giving the underprivileged his best teaching at a public school in the Bronx.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews