Gigi Gryce

Biography

American alto saxophonist and composer Gigi Gryce was a key figure in the move from bebop to hard bop. Trained at the Boston Conservatory, he played with *Lionel Hampton*, *Oscar Pettiford* and *Thelonious Monk* before co-leading the Jazz Lab Quintet with *Donald Byrd* in 1957. His writing, heard on 'Gigi Gryce and the Jazz Lab Quintet' and 'The Rat Race Blues', produced standards including 'Minority' and 'Nica's Tempo'. He quit performing in the early 1960s and spent his later years teaching in New York public schools.