Billboard : 04/28/1956
Score of 72

A convenient collection of some of the better sides by the late tenor man, available up until now only on scattered LP’s and EP’s. The material in this album is was originally recorded in 1950 and 1951. The latter recording date was memorable for the early appearance of trumpet man Art Farmer. His blowing in Farmer’s Market proved to be a springboard to fame. In the same session, Gray cut Jackie, Sweet and Lovely and Lover Man, all available here. The earlier sessions had Sonny Criss and Clark Terry, among others, in attendance, with Dexter Gordon sitting in on Move.

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The Daily Herald (Everett, WA)
Jim Kelton : 09/11/1983

Tenor saxophonist. Wardell Gray was a much-heralded West Coast figure before his untimely death in the mid-50s and this record represents a rich legacy of his work — specifically two phenomenal jams with fellow tenor-player Dexter Gordon.

The Gordon-Gray workouts are Scrapple from the Apple and Move, which comprise the entire second side of this LP. The sidemen include Clark Terry on trumpet and Sonny Criss on alto. Side One features four tunes of a more traditional nature and different personnel — Gordon and Terry are out and trumpeter Art Farmer and pianist Hampton Hawes are added.

Move and Scrapple, which are reason enough to own this record, were recorded live at the Hulu Hut on Sunset Boulevard and they show exactly how unjust Gordon’s long struggle for stardom was. He’s a monster saxophonist even at this early date (1950) but he didn’t officially “arrive” until a few years ago.

Gray, sad to say, never made it, owing to a mysterious death that was not satisfactorily explained. He, too, was a rich, vibrant saxophonist, though, and this album serves as a superb testament to that.

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Metronome
Burt Korall : November, 1955
In Memoriam

Drive is an essential characteristic of vital jazz creation, a life force that enables music to rise out of mediocrity into a startling new light … ‘that thing’ which gives pulsation, meaning and desire to amorphous musical material.

As with every other phenomena, drive is a two-sided coin. It can, in appropriate measure, compel a musician to come out of himself and produce ideas that have laid dormant, producing improvisation of great interest. Taken in its more advanced stages, drive engenders a compulsion for creation and individuality that even the most talented cannot attain with any degree of consistency. In any case, frustration is the portion allotted to the artist reaching beyond his sphere for the constant aura of early morning newness which is a rarity even with genius.

Bix and Bird were lost because of their demanding urge to climb a mountain with no foreseeable summit. These were men of genius. These were the leaders. If frustration assumed grand proportions for them, it is certainly of a more vigorous sort for men of lesser resource, who, though formidable and individual in their own right, never get out from under the shadows created by those they idolize. This could very easily have been the case in one recent, unfortunate death in jazz… that of tenorist Wardell Gray.

For Wardell, as for most other modern soloists, Lester Young and Charlie Parker (in that order) have been sources of inspiration and emulation. Early in Gray’s career, his admiration for Lester’s approach showed up in his own playing. As tenor soloist with the Earl Hines band (1943-5) he made his position clear for all who would listen. In 1945, upon joining Billy Eckstine’s band, contact was made with a select group of Bird followers. This band was monumental as a breeding ground for some of our most prominent modernists, and thus the second impact upon this promising musician.

It was on the West Coast, however, that Gray assumed nation-wide prominence on tenor. Through a series of momentous Gene Norman concerts (with Dexter Gordon), that caused much talk among musicians and fans alike, and a set of recordings with his second idol, Charlie Parker (Cheers, Stupendous, Relaxin’ At Camarillo, Carving The Bird, all on Dial Records), he was established as a tenor sound deserving of careful attention. During this period, Gray was still playing in the Prezian texture. (Vintage 1947)

Although his progression up the ladder reputation-wise allowed him to come to New York to play with the best (BG, Basie, Tadd Dameron, Fats Navarro, Allen Eager, etc.), his style had by now assumed a feeling of conflict, and his playing oscillated between Prez and Bird. (Vintage 1948)

Though Wardell continued to play with the ever-present flexibility and fire to the end of his life, he never quite fulfilled the possibilities that could have been less confining, if his approach to stylization had been more definitive and direct and not split down the middle. This, which the omnipresence of Bird’s shadow did so much to prevent.

Wardell Gray’s last stop was in Las Vegas, and as with many people, that is where his luck ran out. For Wardell, the musician, the frustration and pressures were alleviated.

Prestige Records is putting together two albums of some of this musician’s finest work as a living memorial. It should be vital if just for one reason: Here was a man who always tried to be himself, and with more time might have made it.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

The death of Wardell Gray has not been completely cleared up but it is not for us to attempt to solve any mysteries here. His life, rather than his death, is what concerns us.

Born in Oklahoma City in 1921, Wardell moved to Detroit where he studied music at Cass Tech High. After playing with the local bands of Jimmy Rachel and Benny Carew, he did his first name band work with Earl Hines, doubling on tenor and clarinet from 1943-45. Then he was with Billy Eckstine’s big band for a short spell before joining Benny Carter in 1946. Carter has always had great admiration for Wardell’s playing and Benny is not lavish with praise for many of the modern jazzmen. With Carter, Wardell went out to the West Coast and decided to remain or a while. 1947 found him participating in many of the jazz concerts so popular there at that time. Through these appearances and recordings he began to be more widely known.

The Lester Young style he had shown with Hines was still in evidence, a pure-toned driving style which underwent change in the following year. When Wardell came to New York in 1948 to become part of the Benny Goodman Sextet you could hear the shift to Charlie Parker’s influence. Later that year he appeared at the Royal Roost with Tadd Dameron’s group and Count Basie’s band. In 1949 it was back to Goodman, this time the big band. By the time he had finished an engagement at the Orchid Club (the old Onyx) on 52nd Street with Sonny Stitt in early 1950, Wardell’s style had changed completely over to the harder sound and crisper attack.

He returned to Detroit and spent several months there with his own quartet. When Count Basie formed a small band, Wardell answered his call. Until the end of 1951 when he settled in California, he played intermittently with Count in both small and large groups. We never saw him in the East after that. Outside of a few recording sessions (two of which are included in these volumes) he wasn’t heard from. The West Coast may have been booming but not for all.

Whatever he played swung, for primarily Wardell was a swinger. Moving along at up tempo, he would still exhort the rhythm section to “bear down.”

According to Art Farmer, my source tor a lot of the information in these notes, Wardell was not one to put other musicians down. He did speak frankly about whom he thought he played better than and vice versa. On tenor Sonny Stitt and Frank Foster drew his praise.

This LP is a monument to the music of Wardell Gray. It is not one of marble or granite, but a phonograph record which lives and helps relive.