- Grachan Moncur III
Grachan Moncur III (born
June 3 ,1937 ) is an Americanjazz trombonist . He is one of the few realfree jazz trombonists, as well as a prolific composer. He is the son of jazzbassist Grachan Moncur II and the nephew of jazzsaxophonist Al Cooper .Born in
New York City and raised inNewark, New Jersey , Grachan began playing thecello at age nine, and switched to thetrombone at eleven. In high school he attended theLaurinburg Institute inNorth Carolina , the private school whereDizzy Gillespie had studied. While still in school he began sitting in with touring jazz musicians on their way through town, such asArt Blakey andJackie McLean , with whom he formed a lasting friendship.After high school he toured with
Ray Charles (1959–1962),Art Farmer 's andBenny Golson 's Jazztet (1962), andSonny Rollins . He took part in two classicJackie McLean albums in the early 1960s, "One Step Beyond" and "Destination Out", to which he also contributed the bulk of compositions and which led to two influential albums of his own forBlue Note Records , "Evolution" (1963) withJackie McLean andLee Morgan , and "Some Other Stuff" (1964) withHerbie Hancock andWayne Shorter .After leaving
Blue Note , Grachan joinedArchie Shepp 's ensemble and recorded with otheravant-garde players such asMarion Brown ,Beaver Harris andRoswell Rudd (the other big name infree jazz trombone). During a stay in Paris in the summer of 1969, he recorded two albums as a leader for the famousBYG Actuel label, "New Africa" and "Aco Dei de Madrugada", as well as appearing as a sideman on numerous other releases of the label. In 1974, the Jazz Composers' Orchestra of America commissioned him to write "Echoes of Prayer" (1974), a jazz symphony featuring a full orchestra plus vocalists and jazz soloists. His sixth album as a leader, "Shadows" (1977) was released only in Japan. Unfortunately, he was subsequently plagued by health problems and copyright disputes and recorded only rarely. Through the 1980s he recorded withCassandra Wilson (1985), played occasionally with theParis Reunion Band andFrank Lowe , appeared on John Patton's "Soul Connection" (1983), but mostly concentrated on teaching. In 2004 he re-emerged with a new album ("Exploration") on Capri Records featuring Grachan's compositions arranged byMark Masters for an octet includingTim Hagans andGary Bartz .Discography as a leader
* "Evolution" (Blue Note, 1963)
* "Some Other Stuff" (Blue Note, 1964)
* "New Africa" (BYG Actuel, 1969)
* "Aco Dei de Madrugada (One Morning I Waked Up Very Early)" (BYG Actuel, 1969)
* "Echoes of Prayer" (JCOA, 1974)
* "Shadows" (Denon, 1977)
* "Exploration" (Capri, 2004)
* "Inner Cry Blues" (Lunar Module, 2007)External links
* http://www.grachanmoncur.com/
* http://www.myspace.com/grachanmoncur
* http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=45
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/jazz/reviews/grachanmoncur_exploration.shtml
* http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=16929
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