Wardell Gray Biography
13 February 1921, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, d. 25 May 1955, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Growing up in Detroit, Gray first played clarinet before switching to tenor saxophone and joining the Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines band in 1943. After two years he relocated to the west coast, where he became prominent among local beboppers, notably Dexter Gordon, with whom he played at Central Avenue clubs such as The Bird In The Basket. Gray made some successful recordings with Gordon, among them ‘The Chase’ and ‘The Hunt’, and also composed a number of tunes himself, including ‘Twisted’, which, with lyrics added, became popular with vocalese singers. In the late 40s and early 50s Gray worked with Benny Carter, Billy Eckstine and Count Basie, and was a member of Benny Goodman’s short-lived bebop big band where he elicited a rare compliment from Goodman, who never really liked bebop: ‘If Wardell Gray plays bop then it’s great because he’s wonderful.’ He also played in a Goodman small group alongside Stan Hasselgård. Gray’s tone was soft and he played light, flowing lines that reflected the influence Lester Young had upon him. Gray died on 25 May 1955 in circumstances that have never been fully resolved: his body was found in the Nevada Desert, his neck broken. The official report gave the cause of death as a drug overdose, though there was no autopsy, and rumours persisted that Gray had been murdered - either for failing to pay gambling debts or simply as a random victim of racial violence.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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