Steve Grossman, a virtuoso who is too little celebrated ...
Steve Grossman, on stage at the Nice Jazz Festival, 1991 © Getty images / Redferns / David Redfern
By: Joe Farmer Follow
6 min
On January 18, 2021, American saxophonist Steve Grossman would have turned 70.
Propelled to the front of the stage by trumpeter Miles Davis in 1969, he quickly became the darling of jazzmen of the time.
His fiery fluidity earned him the praise of his contemporaries and John Coltrane's drummer, Elvin Jones, claimed him in his group.
Beyond his personal excesses, Steve Grossman remained, throughout his life, an artist of integrity that history has not sufficiently honored.
This week we pay him the tribute he deserves.
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Steve Grossman was fortunate enough to be born at a pivotal time in jazz history: the 1950s. The great orchestral conductors of the swing era are still active and the intrepid soloists of bebop jostle the world. order established by preferring small groups rather than big bands considered to be winded and dusty.
It was in the midst of this providential effervescence that Steve Grossman grew up and learned to play the saxophone.
The scene being a challenge and a major step for any aspiring instrumentalist, he participates in competitions for young talents in the company of his brother who has just formed the "Uniques", a jazz orchestra which, against all expectations, will cause a sensation and will arouse the curiosity of a great figure from "The Epic of Black Music", the immense Duke Ellington.
Steve Grossman's vigorous sensitivity is beginning to bear fruit.
The lively and brash teenager he has become lives his passion for music intensely and seeks to get in touch with his heroes.
He who first intended for the drums said that meeting Elvin Jones, the drummer of John Coltrane, will allow him to observe closely two icons, two unique creators, two legends of jazz in the heart of the 60s. So signed up for an audition to approach Elvin Jones and, perhaps, play in his band.
We are July 17, 1967, Steve Grossman is 16 years old and misses an unexpected opportunity to meet his idol, John Coltrane.
The legendary saxophonist has just passed away at just 40 years old.
Steve Grossman will allude to his elder brother, much later, on several of his albums.
Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. Redferns - David Redfern
In the heart of the 60s, while jazz was transformed, while the psychedelic movement stirred consciences, redraws the contours of popular culture and challenges the political choices of the great America, a few free spirits embrace the era of time and nourish the momentum of youthful rebellion by creating audacious music, without limit, without constraint, admittedly sometimes interpreted under the effect of very scouring substances.
The trumpeter Miles Davis was then perceived as the main innovator of the jazz scene thanks to his electric experiments flirting with the rock of Jimi Hendrix and responding to the aspirations of a youth in need of thrills.
Steve Grossman is 18 years old and is part of a generation steeped in doubts and existential questions.
He does not yet imagine that he will become one of the protagonists of this artistic quest initiated by the great Miles.
It was thanks to his friend Lenny White, drummer of the "Jazz Samaritans", that Steve Grossman came face to face with the master Miles Davis in 1969. The adventure with this incredible trumpeter would only last two years, but would be very instructive for Steve Grossman. and will bring him a little notoriety in the world of jazz.
Our young saxophonist suddenly becomes a member of the African-American family and begins to receive requests from his contemporaries.
This is how John Coltrane's drummer, Elvin Jones, contacted him again for a few concerts in 1971. Their collaboration would become a camaraderie and Steve Grossman would express all his melodic force where Coltrane, before him, had magnified it.
Steve Grossman in concert, 2009. Getty Images - Heritage Images
After spending time with Miles Davis and Elvin Jones, Steve Grossman feels ready to attempt a solo career.
His music was still very much influenced by the fusion of genres that Miles Davis was promoting at the time.
It is only very gradually that our saxophone prodigy will return to tradition, to the reverent interpretation of the classical jazz repertoire, that of his mentors, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane.
During these years of artistic reflection, Steve Grossman will go through periods of doubt, depression and questioning.
His fragile health will worry those close to him and he is a frail instrumentalist, inhabited by nostalgia, who will resist his addictions as best they can.
In the twilight of his life, his withered voice tried to reassure as he envisioned the future and invoked the absolute necessity of transmitting the flame, but in his tired words his convictions seemed increasingly altered by the weight of the years.
Steve Grossman struggled with his excesses.
He was struggling against the inevitable.
Maybe he had this natural urge to relive his youth, the hectic pace of his 20s, to ward off fate?
Steve Grossman passed away on August 13, 2020.
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