Rip steve grossman...

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

News of Steve Grossman's passing seems to be coming out, from reputable sources including the below tribute. He was 69. I wasn't much of a fan of his work with Miles and then Elvin, but I found his later "turn" to a Sonny Rollins area totally genuine and convincing and much to be admired and listened to...

RIP.

The later Steve ....http://youtu.be/2_r6lvexlWY

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Just noticed, I think that's Peter King in the background to this?

BN.

[Jazzrook]

Just noticed, I think that's Peter King in the background to this?

BN.

Yes, that is Peter King. He turned 80 last week!

JR

[Joseph K]

I know only his work with Miles - though generally I prefer the saxophonists before (Wayne Shorter) and after (Gary Bartz) to Grossman; that said, I do think he's great on 'Right Off' from Jack Johnson, which, actually, I just might spin now in tribute.

[Serial_Apologist]

I know only his work with Miles - though generally I prefer the saxophonists before (Wayne Shorter) and after (Gary Bartz) to Grossman; that said, I do think he's great on 'Right Off' from Jack Johnson, which, actually, I just might spin now in tribute.

Me too - and we shouldn't forget Dave Liebman, though arguably sax players were more peripheral to Miles's concept at his time of inauguration.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Jazz Times obituary...

"Steve Grossman, a tenor and soprano saxophonist who played fusion and bop with equal brawny authority, died August 13 at Glen Cove Hospital on Long Island, New York. He was 69.

His death was confirmed by his brother, Myles Grossman, who said that the cause of death was cardiac arrest.

Grossman burst onto the jazz scene as the 18-year-old soprano saxist in Miles Davis’ newly formed band—one of the most coveted gigs in jazz—that stunned the world with its moody experiments in fusing jazz and rock. Once established on that funky and free platform, Grossman quickly proved his swing bona fides as well, in the band of another jazz star, drummer Elvin Jones. His versatility made him one of the busiest musicians in 1970s New York. In the 1980s, however, he left the jazz capital for Europe, building a strong career there over the next 30 years but falling into obscurity in the United States.

Eventually, Grossman made a powerful return to New York bandstands. His high-profile run at the Jazz Standard in late 2009 was not unlike Dexter Gordon’s homecoming of 30 years before. (Grossman even made an album called Homecoming, as Gordon had.) Afterward, he shuffled back and forth across the Atlantic and into South America. But at the time of his death he was living in the Long Island suburbs, primarily making a living teaching private lessons out of his home.

Although his contemporaries included Dave Liebman, Michael Brecker, and Bob Mintzer, “[h]e was the best of all of us,” Liebman said in a 2012 interview. “We, the tenor players of that time from our generation, all acknowledged that.”

Slightly annoying the number of critics (and fellows)who say he disapated his talent when he turned away from the Coltrane inspired beginnings and his work with Miles and and Elvin. He himself said he really didn't know what to play with Miles in that environment and often couldn't hear himself. I think the Rollins-esque root was always there and I find his later playing very enjoyable and artistically worth while. He certainly had "problems" but the music stands.