Feature Interview with Larry Gray

Feature Interview with Larry Gray

Date Posted: November 06 2010

Written By: Chicago Jazz

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in his own words...Larry Gray


Born on Chicago’s South Side, Larry Gray is considered by many to be one of jazz music’s finest double bassists. His impressive versatility and uncommon musical curiosity keep him in demand as both a leader and sideman. Throughout his long and varied career, Gray has worked with numerous exceptional artists and jazz legends, including McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette, Danilo Perez, Branford Marsalis, Benny Green, Freddy Cole, Chet Baker, Benny Golson, Steve Turre, George Coleman, Lee Konitz, Bobby Hutcherson, Sonny Fortune, Ira Sullivan, Junior Mance, David “Fathead” Newman, Willie Pickens, Bunky Green, Anne Hampton Callaway, Charles McPherson, Antonio Hart, Jackie McLean, Sonny Stitt, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Al Cohn, Randy Brecker, Nicholas Payton, Kurt Elling, Eric Alexander, Phil Woods, Jon Faddis, Roscoe Mitchell, Von Freeman, Wilbur Campbell, Eddie Harris, and Les McCann. In addition, he has collaborated with guitarists Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, and Tal Farlow, as well trumpeters Donald Byrd, Harry “Sweets” Edison, and Tom Harrell, among others.

Gray’s extensive touring schedule has performed with such jazz luminaries as Marian McPartland, Clark Terry, Nancy Wilson, Frank Morgan, James Moody, Larry Coryell, Louis Bellson, Barry Harris, Dorothy Donegan, Monty Alexander, Frank Wess, Joe Williams, Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Band, Kenny Drew Jr., and most recently, Ramsey Lewis. In addition, Gray is a first-call studio musician, and his playing can be heard on many commercial radio and television jingles and studio projects as well as the PBS television series, Legends of Jazz, where he can be seen performing alongside Jim Hall, Benny Golson, Chris Potter, Phil Woods, David Sanborn, Chris Botti, Clark Terry, and Roy Hargrove.

Gray is an arranger and composer whose work has been widely recognized as uniquely melodic and exceptionally refined. His discography includes 1,2,3..., on Chicago Sessions, the solo bass record Gravity, One Look and Solo + Quartet, all on Graywater Records, as well as the Ramsey Lewis and Nancy Wilson collaborations Meant to Be and Simple Pleasures. He can also be heard on the Ramsey Lewis recordings Appassionata, Time Flies, and With One Voice, and the latest release, Songs From the Heart. Gray also arranged and produced the critically acclaimed CD, Django by Ferro.

Larry Gray is also a dedicated teacher and is currently Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Active as a clinician at high school and colleges and festivals thought North America, he also coaches various instrumentalists in jazz techniques as well as music theory, sight-singing, and composition.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: How did you get started in music?

Larry Gray: I started around age five with the accordion. I switched over to guitar about a year and a half after that, and I was basically playing the guitar in a sort of a non-trained fashion; playing in rock groups, learning things from the radio by ear, not really being exposed to jazz at that age. It was probably from age sixteen-or-so that I moved toward jazz. I also started practicing classical music at the end of my high school years; first, classical flute at age sixteen, and then, when I went to college, piano became an important part of my training. Everything else came after that––most notably the switch to double bass at age twenty.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: How were you exposed to jazz?

Gray: I’d say primarily from the radio. I played in jazz band in high school, so I had some exposure, but I was blessed by having in the South Suburbs where I grew up, access to the local AM station, WBEE, where they would play jazz all day long. Another radio station I recall was WSDN, which was an FM station. They played a lot of jazz on that station, especially on the weekends. Also WNIB––now The Drive––was a great place to hear jazz on the weekends. So those experiences along with going down to the Jazz Showcase where I heard a lot of great artists ranging from Yusef Lateef to Sonny Stitt were formative for me. Elvin Jones was particularly moving for me, as was Tony Williams. These live experiences starting around age sixteen were very inspiring for me.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: You started playing instruments at an early age. Did you have parents that pushed you in that direction?

Gray: Not exactly. I don’t know how it came about, but for some reason I was blessed, and I’m happy I did have that opportunity. It started with a chord organ on which I played melodies. I then quickly switched over to the accordion and started lessons. Then I switched to the guitar––it was the sixties and everyone had a guitar. At that time I didn’t like the accordion––there were temper tantrums and I moved away from it pretty quickly. I love the accordion now. I wish I had taken it more seriously.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Have you kept up with your chops on the piano and guitar?

Gray: Very much so. My current teaching position at the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana is the latest installment of that. I play often with the students, because I try to provide an environment where they have an opportunity to interact with other instruments. So that inspires me to “keep my chops up,” so to speak.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: You teach “sight-singing.” Are you a vocalist as well?

Gray: I’m not a vocalist at all, but I believe that singing is a very important element in the study of music, both jazz and classical.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: How so?

Gray: I think it activates the inner ear, and it helps the process of pre-hearing. In notated music it helps with the conception of what the pitch is going to sound like; it helps with forming a concept along those lines. For improvised material, it heightens a connection between the mind, the inner ear and the instrument. It stimulates the musical learning process, also; you learn something in a more deep, complete way when you learn it away from the instrument.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: What happens at a sight-singing lesson? Do you have the student sing notes written on a page and compare the singing with an instrument?

Gray: That’s a good question. What I was exposed to in my early college days was solfège––that’s part of what sight-singing is. There are two levels to it: one is a development of confidence with these syllables. There are two different systems: “fixed do,” which is what I studied, and another system, more commonly taught in America, called “movable do.” The second level is actually singing pitches. With Ralph Dodds, whom I studied with for many years in my late teens and early twenties, I was exposed to the idea of “solfèging” various melodies ranging from Gregorian chant through twentieth century melodies and tone rows. We would also do this at the piano, and so I would sing one line and play other voices. For example, we might work a Bach fugue, where you’d sing one part and play the other three or four parts; and then go back and sing eventually each of the other parts. For example, if I sang the soprano, next time through I’d sing the alto. So that’s some of the nature of my sight-singing training in the classical realm.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Do you see yourself primarily as a teacher or a performer?

Gray: That’s a very difficult question. I see myself as both. I’ve always been a performer first and foremost. But as time moves on, I’m really enjoying my role as teacher and mentor to the students. This University of Illinois position has given me an opportunity to grow in that regard and I love the opportunity. I can’t really choose, though between the two.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: You obviously have a great passion for teaching.

Gray: I love teaching.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: You were heavily involved in music throughout high school and college. Did you choose a college based on your passion for music?

Gray: Yes, I think I did, although my college decision-making process was pretty haphazard as I look back on it in retrospect. I went to college at Roosevelt University as a composition major. There were few Jazz Studies programs. Basically, I was a pretty competent jazz guitarist who wrote a lot of tunes. So I wasn’t really a classical guitarist nor was I a seasoned composer; I hadn’t studied orchestration, I had no experience writing for various ensembles. I really pretty much wrote jazz tunes. I was there for two years and then I left school. School was certainly influential on me for certain reasons, but it was when I left school that I started studying even more. Shortly after I left school, I took up double bass. A lot of my experiences at that point were private lessons with two of my main string mentors, Joe Guastafeste and Karl Fruh. Joe, of course, is the long-time principal bass for the Chicago Symphony, and Karl Fruh was a great cellist and teacher. Those two were my string mentors. They really helped me to figure out a lot of things, especially for one starting at the age of twenty on a stringed instrument. I owe a lot to them. But of course it was also my experiences as a freelance musician in Chicago in my twenties that really helped me. Every gig, every experience, was a learning opportunity for me.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: By the time you finished college were you pretty much a professional musician?

Gray: Yes. I went back at the age of thirty-one and finished up my bachelor’s degree in classical double bass. But shortly after re-enrolling I changed direction and decided to take up the cello. So my bachelor’s and master’s degrees are actually in classical cello performance.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: You have such a breadth of music skills that it’s difficult to keep all of this straight!

Gray: [laughs] I’ve had a lot of wonderful experiences. Being in Chicago has made that a lot easier; playing anything from Broadway shows, to getting a chance to play with the CSO, and working with all the wonderful jazz musicians I’ve learned from at the Jazz Showcase. I started at the Jazz Showcase in 1976, at the age of twenty-one, playing with Sonny Stitt. I was recently there with the Larry Coryell Trio. It’s going on a good thirty-four years-or-so of working there with Joe Segal.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: At what point did you know that music was going to be your career?

Gray: I wouldn’t have used the word “career,” but maybe used “need” or “hunger.” But I would say that idea was established probably around age sixteen. What changed was just the medium, but the idea of me being a performer was definitely ingrained by that time.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: So by the time you went to college you knew you weren’t going to be an architect or a businessman or a doctor.

Gray: I didn’t have any of those thoughts at that time. Sounds like a pretty sketchy plan, but at the time I went along with it, and it worked out.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Sounds like more of a plan than most people at that age. You mentioned that you have performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra?

Gray: I’ve had the opportunity to substitute with them for a couple of regular weeks of performance. I was in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, which is the training orchestra for the CSO. This was a non-professional group that rehearsed several times a week, and we were coached by Chicago Symphony artists and also got to work with great conductors. So in the Civic I worked with George Solti, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Claudio Abbado. Because I was Joe Guastafeste’s student, I was asked to play in the regular concerts of the Chicago Symphony at times.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Did you ever have to make a decision whether you were going to go the classical versus the jazz route?

Gray: Well, the audition process for being in a symphony orchestra is a tough and arduous path and requires great dedication. I think that I made the decision just by virtue of where my career path led me.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: How would you describe the differences between classical and jazz music?

Gray: Well that’s a difficult question to answer directly. The main element is, of course, jazz is improvised, and in particular is learned best as an oral tradition art form. That is to say that it is not really learned so much from notation, but rather from recordings, so that one can really assimilate a particular style; whereas in classical music, much of it is in the study of scores, and then its interpretation. So in classical music you are an interpreter, whereas in jazz music you are a composer and an interpreter all in one––that’s what an improviser is.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Do you see greater value in either of those two approaches to music?

Gray: Goodness, no. Both are equally important and essential, they are just very, very different. They do, however, have some similarities. And to some people––this is an arguable point––having a good classical background helps with their improvisation. There are other players who have spent less time with classical music. Certainly I believe they do feed off of one another. And I say “one another” because there are a lot of classical musicians very interested in learning how to improvise, composers delving into improvisation and certain characteristics of jazz and other improvised music.
Chicago Jazz Magazine: You are a musician’s musician. “Larry Gray” is not a name that everyone on the street knows, and yet every musician in town knows who you are. Did you intentionally put yourself in a supporting role?
Gray: I don’t think it’s intentional. I think it’s who I am and what I do. Part of what I am is being versatile. One of the things I’ve learned as a rhythm section player, a bassist, and an accompanist, is to learn to play what E. Parker MacDougal told me Charlie Parker told him: “Play the appropriate thing.” That’s really what I try to do as a bassist. So what’s appropriate for one gig might not be appropriate for another. Through all these years I’ve just tried to be a better musician and tried to make each gig sound as good as I can. That’s really my first goal.
Chicago Jazz Magazine: Is your approach to life that broad as well? Do you have additional interests and passions in the arts or in other disciplines?
Gray: I tend to be lopsided toward music, so I read books about music. At times I read books about Buddhist thought, about history. There are a lot of books that I’ve read and enjoyed. Some of my favorite writers are Somerset Maugham, Aldous Huxley, Albert Camus, Shakespeare...
Chicago Jazz Magazine: Do you read Shakespeare for enjoyment?
Gray: Only when my daughter was in the play. You can scratch that from the record! [laughs] I like Don DeLillo. He’s a fiction writer––a very good fiction writer. I’ve been reading John Holt at my wife’s behest. John Holt is the authority on education and home schooling. But I try to broaden my horizons. I don’t have any particular course of study that I’m embarked on. I’m very dedicated to my family, that’s a huge part of my life, so that takes a lot of my time and energies. I learn so much from them. My daughter and wife are really my greatest teachers.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: How do they view your music? Do they listen to your music?

Gray: Sure. My wife and daughter are both into all kinds of music. But they’ve heard my music.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Do they perform?

Gray: Yes, they do. Both are classical musicians. My wife, Karolyn Kuehner, is a wonderful classical pianist and teacher. I met her at college at Roosevelt University. And our daughter, Soffia Kuehner Gray, who is fifteen years old, has been studying piano with her mom for a long time––since she was about four. They are both wonderful musicians. That is just one part of all that they do.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: What would you say to a non-musician who has no idea of how to go about getting their son or a daughter involved in music?

Gray: I don’t have a system really. Karolyn is a fantastic teacher and has a lot more experience than I do working with very young children. I would just say that exposing them to music, especially live music, is a good way to start, and seeing if an interest in playing develops. I think it’s very important if you are going to get private instruction to find the best instruction that is available. I think classical lessons are a good way to go to get foundation on an instrument as well as familiarity of that music. But at the same time you want to give them experience with jazz––the recognition that jazz music is different, that it’s primarily improvised. You want to give them some experience with that as well.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: How should one go about choosing an instrument? Is there an instrument that you recommend as a good starting point?

Gray: There’s no real answer to that one. Stringed instruments are great, if people are interested in violin lessons that’s a wonderful choice.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: How about the piano––you use both hands and it involves melody as well as harmony and bass lines.

Gray: I think every musician should know something about the piano.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Let’s go back to your career. You said your first Jazz Showcase gig was with Sonny Stitt while in your twenties?

Gray: Yeah, twenty-one. It was a good start! [laughs] I think Wilbur Campbell had recommended me to Joe Segal, so it was basically Wilbur’s doing. I had had the opportunity to play with Wilbur the previous summer. So that gig had Willie Pickens on piano and Wilbur Campbell on drums. A longtime friendship and opportunity for a rhythm section to play together started then. We had twenty-four years working together.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: You were pretty young to be put in that situation with Sonny. Was there any apprehension?

Gray: I think it went pretty well. The funny part was that I was practicing so hard for the gig that I got blisters before the gig even started! [laughs] So my fingers were all torn up before we played a note. I really learned a lot about blisters that week. I still tell my students about that experience. I’m sure there was some natural apprehension there, but I threw caution to the wind and it really was a fine opportunity. I have fond memories of those times. As each gig came along, they all offered something different––learning experiences where one thing that worked on a gig didn’t work on the next one. Things that were working really well with Sonny Stitt were really annoying to Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, whom I worked with right after that. That was the beginning of the education that all rhythm section players get. What you think works well in one situation doesn’t work at all in another. You have to be flexible. Above all else it’s important to listen.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: When you enter into an unfamiliar situation as a bass player on a jazz gig is there any particular musician that you zero in on––that you try to remain particularly tight with?

Gray: I listen to all the musicians on stage. But there is definitely a certain intimacy between the bass and drums. I definitely key in on drummers, and everything is built from there. But at the same time, the type of beat we are using, the type of bass lines I choose to use are not determined just by the drums, but by all the musicians: the pianist, the guitarist, the soloist, whatever is going on. If it’s a singer we’re working with, what the singer’s doing with the lyric can affect it. Everything is important.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: For the drummers out there reading this interview, what suggestions do you have to make it easier to work with a bass player?

Gray: That’s a difficult one. As I said, I think we need to listen to each other. Jazz musicians need to learn to have both strength and flexibility, so that they are able to adjust and to realize that the most important thing for a band, in general, or for a bass player and drummer, is to learn to play together as one.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Who are some of the drummers with whom you most enjoy working?

Gray: It’s hard to name names because I’m afraid to leave someone out. But there are so many wonderful drummers I’ve worked with just on the Chicago scene alone. Of course, Wilbur Campbell. Robert Shy and I have played a lot of gigs together. I’ve had wonderful times with Paul Wertico; more recently, drummers like Charles Heath, Ernie Adams and Dana Hall. There are really so many, I’ve had great opportunities to work with drummers that are not in Chicago. Ed Thigpen was wonderful, and for me there was so much joy working with Jack DeJohnette a few years back on a gig with Jodie Christian and Ira Sullivan and Von Freeman, a Chicago reunion gig. Working with Eric Gravatt with McCoy Tyner was also wonderful for me––he’s a drummer from Minneapolis that was in Weather Report and played with McCoy for many years. There are so many great drummers I’ve worked with in Chicago: Joel Spencer, Rusty Jones, Charles Braugham, and Ernie Adams. I’m leaving so many great ones out of what I’m saying, but they are all part of it too.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Do you think there is a Chicago “sound”?

Gray: Probably, but there are many Chicago sounds. However, there is definitely a Chicago sound we think about with jazz. The Chicago drummers were a little more conservative and focused more on swinging than disguising the beat or breaking it up. That’s one description I’ve heard––that Chicago was considered more of a “swinging” town. But that is all before my time, so I don’t really know. If you look at the drummers I’ve mentioned, they all have very, very different sounds. I just think Chicago has been a great town for me for many, many years.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: With your exposure to so many young people through your teaching, what is your assessment of what you see coming through the ranks?

Gray: There is so much talent; so many talented, dedicated young people. The questions are always, Where are they going to play?, and How are they going to market themselves?, and I think they are answering those questions with what they do. Whether that is creating a website or creating their own gigs. I’m optimistic. I think the most troubling thing is the difficulty artists are having in this country, and not just in jazz music, but all facets of the arts––the cutting of music and arts programs in schools. It’s a troubling development, and hopefully we can turn it around.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Do you think the cuts in music education are an effect or a cause?

Gray: Probably a little bit of both. Some people feel that arts are an expendable part of our education system. I think experience has proven otherwise: that the arts aren’t expendable but are essential to society.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Where do you think the “disconnect” is with society?

Gray: I don’t know. I suppose we in society have more options than we’ve ever had before, so there can be distraction. That is also a good thing––it’s good to have options. The young people studying music have access to more information than ever before. I really have a difficult time with the idea of disconnect. We will have to wait and see. I don’t know if there is a disconnect. I do know that education is important and the arts are an important part of education.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: When you say there is more access to information, are you speaking primarily of the Internet?

Gray: Yes. I use YouTube all the time with my students. What a great opportunity to suggest to a student, Take a look at Oscar Pettiford’s right hand; Check out Paul Chambers’ bowed arm. I never got that experience when I was young. I didn’t even know what Paul Chambers looked like. I saw Ron Carter a couple times. I never saw Coltrane. I saw Elvin, though. Those were fleeting experiences then. Now students can see so much, but they haven’t had as many live experiences, because they are removed from those groups. But there are tremendous players you can see now in concert. I think another issue that is sad is the loss of the jazz club––the loss of the five- and six-night-a-week gigs. That was an important part of the development of the music.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: You’re saying that it’s not so much that there are less clubs to play––though that’s part of it. But what troubles you most is that there are virtually no club opportunities where musicians can work together frequently enough to hone and perfect their sound as a group, and their chops individually.

Gray: That’s exactly right.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: And once a week doesn’t cut it.

Gray: No, it certainly doesn’t.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Was that change gradual or was there defining moment?

Gray: It’d be hard for me to say because it’s a nationwide thing. I believe the Village Vanguard is still doing five or six-night-a-week gigs. Joe Segal is doing more four-night-a-week gigs, though I think he is still doing some six-night gigs. Those clubs are trying to keep it going in trying economic times, but I think throughout the country, many clubs just can’t afford it anymore. So the gigs become two nights a week or along those lines. It’s a nationwide phenomenon, and it’s been going on for quite some time. I think jazz musicians need to find community, whether that’s from a working band or a group of like-minded musicians who talk regularly. Younger students are finding this in college, or if they move to New York and play together, they find it there. And I would presume that’s what is happening there, based on a high level of playing and so many different musical genres. So the main thing is community, in whatever shape or form. If there’s not going to be some sort of job that provides that, I still think the people that want to do it will do it. I’ve heard stories––Dave Liebman comes to mind; so do Chick Corea and Dave Holland––that there was a lot that came out of their being part of a community, and I know there are a lot of communities in New York.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Can you elaborate on that? Give us an example on how that develops.

Gray: I read Dave Liebman’s book, Self Portrait of An Artist, in which he wrote about a time when he lived near Chick Corea and Dave Holland, and how they played together on a regular basis. If you think back to what was going on––who was recording with whom––they were playing with Miles Davis among others. So there was just a lot of connectivity. The idea of sessioning together and performing together was leading to performance opportunities. I’m in another place now, being a full-time college professor as well as being a touring concert musician, so I don’t have a lot of access to that, but I know that it still exists.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Did you ever feel you were a part of a jazz community, as you describe it?

Gray: Always, I think, by proximity. I did really enjoy and benefit from being a freelance musician as opposed to being a part of one band. That gave me opportunities to learn from a variety of experiences.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: What do you consider some of the high points of your career?

Gray: Oh, there have been so many great gigs throughout the country––throughout the world. I’ve done a lot of great concerts with Ramsey Lewis; had a lot of opportunities to go to Japan, including recently at the Blue Note. Concerts in Europe. Great times playing with Clark Terry, Monty Alexander, Larry Coryell and Joe Williams. Of course I mentioned earlier, performances at the Showcase with McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette, Barry Harris, James Moody, Benny Golson, Eddie Harris, Bobby Hutcherson, and Barry Harris. So many experiences––I really can’t single any out. I just hope to continue to do all of these things.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Did you set any music goals when you were young?

Gray: No, I think just being able to play with some of the people that I’ve played with was my goal. To go from being a sixteen-year-old kid playing along with a record player to being twenty-one years old and playing with some of the people we’re talking about, that’s a blessing.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: What do you think is the best documentation of your playing?

Gray: Well, that’s a work in progress, but I’m very proud of my four albums as a leader. Each one is different and I’m happy at the opportunity to do each one. Namely the quartet one with Ed Petersen, Mike Kocour, and Joel Spencer; the trio recording, One Look, with Jim Trompeter and Dana Hall; the solo recording, Gravity––solo bass, no over dubs, unaccompanied double bass; and the most recent recording, 1,2,3, with John Moulder and Charles Heath.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: That was a Chicago Sessions release with Nick Eipers. Talk about a guy trying to work new angles, with his record label Eipers is connecting Chicago jazz artists and their music with the public.

Gray: Absolutely right. Nick Eipers is wonderful and very necessary to the Chicago community.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: How did you get hooked up with Ramsey?

Gray: I understand it was a recommendation from other people. He called me for a performance in Havana, Cuba, in 1998, and that was the first time we started working together as a trio. After that, he called me again––I guess I was a part of that group at that point––and we began touring as a trio from that point forward. Ramsey has a lot to offer to the audience and the musicians, and I learned a great deal on that gig.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: How would you explain his playing stylistically? It sounds jazz-like, but it contains blues and other elements.

Gray: That’s right. He’s a walking history of Chicago music: there’s a lot of church in his music, there’s blues, there’s rhythm and blues and of course jazz. It’s all of those things. It gave me an opportunity to be out front quite a bit from a soloing perspective, and Ramsey is very interested in arco bass, so I had plenty of opportunities to use my bow.
Chicago Jazz Magazine: Didn’t you do some projects with Ramsey and Nancy Wilson?

Gray: Yes, two recordings with Nancy Wilson and Ramsey: Simple Pleasures and Meant to Be. On the second one I actually had the opportunity to arrange several tunes for Nancy, and got to arrange one of my favorites for her, “Piano in the Dark.”

Chicago Jazz Magazine: You have worked with some of the top vocalists of all time. In your opinion, what makes a great jazz vocalist?

Gray: It varies from artist to artist. I would say it’s that same characteristic of a jazz musician, which is the blend between the rendering of the work together with the free spirited-ness of the improvisers. That is to say, there is an improvisatory nature to what they do, but at the same time a dedication to the composer or to the song or to the style. For example, Shirley Horn is a very different kind of singer than, say, Sarah Vaughan. They are both great jazz singers, though.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Is there anything that you do differently when working with a vocalist?

Gray: Probably something. But bear in mind there is something different I’m doing in every situation I’m in. Playing with Benny Golson is going to be very different than what I do with James Moody. You have attention on not only the musical aspects, such as note choice, such as timbre, such as rhythmic placement, but as well on the lyric. That becomes an important determining factor, because everything you and the group are doing are at the service of the lyric.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: You’ve worked with Dennis DeYoung and Peter Cetera. Did you move toward a rock idiom, or did they move toward jazz?

Gray: That came from my place as a studio musician, because I did a lot of commercial recordings. In Dennis DeYoung’s case, he was looking for a jazz accompaniment. In Peter Cetera’s case, that was in a string section. That was an orchestral session.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: Do you play electric bass on most of the jingles sessions?

Gray: Actually on most of the jingles I did I played acoustic. There were periods of time where I got calls for electric bass, but there are some great electric players here who specialize in that. I got calls to do what I do, whether it was jazz, something to do with my background as a classical musician, or in other types of improvised music, such as Irish or other ethnic music.

Chicago Jazz Magazine: If you were to summarize what music has meant to your life, what would you say?

Gray: I think the most important thing that I’ve learned and experienced as a musician is my connection with people: my connection with other musicians on the bandstand, and my connection with the audience. What music teaches us is that when we really listen to other people, what we play will be good too.
nCJM

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