Grachan Moncur III, a trombone player and composer who became famous in the 1960s and early 70s for his skillful performance of a hybrid of post-bop and free jazz, later left the spotlight and was born at the age of 85. He died on June 3rd, the day of the event. — At a Newark hospital.
His son Kenya said the cause was cardiac arrest.
“Whenever we talk about what’s wrong with the jazz business, we start by saying,’Where’s Grachan Moncur?'”, Saxophonist Alto Saxophone, one of Moncur’s most important collaborators. Jackie McLean Told the New York Times 2003.
Long before McLean asked that question, Mon-KUR (pronounced mon-KUR) played jazz at New York’s nightclub Birdland, sat down with drummer Art Blakey’s band Art Blakey, and teened. I started my jazz career as an age. Jazz messenger.. In 1959 he Ray Charles..
But about two years later, he felt the need to play in a smaller New York-based ensemble and he was hired to participate. Jazztet, A six-member group formed by trumpet player Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson. After playing with the group until he disbanded in 1962, he took a break that summer, Thelonious Monk.. His goal was to learn how to write for himself.
“I just wanted to get the sound of his music into my body,” Monker said. Interview with the website All About Jazz 2003.
The night he wrote the two songs, he said he had been called by McLean, whom Monker had known since he was a teenager, to join the ensemble for rehearsals and club dates before recording. Blue Note Records album.
That album, “One step ahead” When “Destination … out!Both were released in 1963, and musicians like McLean and Monker critically praised the jazz transitional documents that blended the harmonious progress of the bebop era with avant-garde adventurous spirit. .. Five of Monker’s works were included, including a “ghost town” that evokes devastation in a long corridor that is barely audible except for the reverberations of vibes and cymbals.
Later, as a leader, Monker recorded two albums for Blue Note. “evolution” (1963) and “Other ones” (1964), with stellar accompaniment. Both albums featured Bobby Hutcherson on the vibraphone and Tony Williams on the drums. “Evolution” featured trumpets Lee Morgan and Mr. McLean, and the “Some Other Stuff” lineup included tenor saxophone Wayne Shorter.
Reviewing Pittsburgh Courier’s “evolution,” critic Philis Garland praised Monker’s technique and album title number. , So is music. “
What may have been a longer relationship with Blue Note ended after two albums in a publishing rights dispute. In the end, he managed to retain his right to music from “Evolution”, but he felt he wouldn’t last long on the label.
“They were very disappointed with it, and they dropped me like a kind of hot potato,” Monker told All About about jazz. He believed that his position, that is, his position that he began to regret after him, was messed up. In retrospect, he said he wanted to find a way to compromise with the founder of Blue Note, Alfred Lion.
“I think business trips were more revolutionary than music trips because I decided to own my music,” he said.
Grachan Moncur III was born on June 3, 1937 in Manhattan. His father, Grachan II, played the swing ensemble Savoy Sultan and bassist in the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. His mother, Ella (Wright) Monker, was a beautician, and her clients (and her friends) included the singer Sarah Vaughan.
Having been obsessed with trombone since the age of five, Grachan still received a cello from his father. But the cello didn’t inspire him, so his father gave him a trombone. The lesson continued. He also had a trombone role model: his father who played an instrument.
“To date, I’ve never heard of someone who sounds like my dad,” Monker told All About Jazz. “He had a very dark and clear tone. That sound, it stayed with me, and I always wanted to make the same type of sound — my dad had Projects the same type of sound as. “
He graduated from the Laurinburg Institute, a historic black prep school in North Carolina, where Dizzy Gillespie attended in the 1930s. Returning to New York, he attended the Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School and began his career in nightclubs before joining the Ray Charles Orchestra.
In 1964, Monker learned that The Actors Studio was about to cast a musician for the production of James Baldwin’s civil rights drama on Broadway. “Blues for Mr. Charlie.” Mr. Monker played two roles, one of which was a trombone player and contributed music.
He recorded “Other ones” It’s been three months since the play started. Two of the album’s cuts, “Gnostic” and “Nomadic,” reflected his farewell to his girlfriend and his departure from the $ 27-week apartment.
“I was a nomad after losing my room, and I was a Gnostic because I had to survive with my wisdom,” he told the Times.
He continued recording and released two albums “New Africa” and “Acodel de Madrugada” (“One Morning I Waked Up Very Early”) and another “Echoes of Prayer” on the French label BYG Actuel in 1969. 1974 Jazz Composer’s Orchestra. But he was in a long and relatively quiet time. During that time, he made few records, but he held a jazz workshop in a studio called the Harlem Space Station. Played in Europe. He taught jazz at the Newark Community School of the Arts.
In 1994, Mr. Monker said 4 Movement “New Africa” A suite for theatrical works at the Alternative Museum in Manhattan. His friend poet Amiri Baraka was the producer.
In addition to his son Kenya, Mr. Monker is surviving by his wife, Tamam Tracy (The Sims) Monker. Two other sons, Grachan IV and Adrien. His daughters, Ella and Bellamonker. His twin brothers, Lofton and Ronnie. 10 grandchildren; and 4 great-grandchildren. His son Toy died in 2016 and his daughter Hilda died in 1992. He lived in Newark.
2004, composer and arranger Mark Masters We brought together Monker and seven other musicians to replenish his eight songs into an album on a new chart. “expedition” Released on Capri label.
“As a composer, he was unique and unique,” Masters said in a telephone interview. “He wasn’t a derivative of anyone. I see the influence of the monk, but the monk didn’t float on him. His music doesn’t sound like anyone else.”