Steve Grossman

Steve Grossman (Jan. 18, 1951 — Aug. 13, 2020) was an American post-bop jazz saxophonist from Brooklyn. He played tenor and soprano saxophone with Miles Davis and Elvin Jones, then launched a solo career with the 1974 album Some Shapes to Come, followed by the 1977–79 titles Born at the Same Time, Terra Firma, and Perspective. 

Background

Steven Mark Grossman was born on January 18, 1951, in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up mainly on Long Island and spent several years in Pittsburgh when his father, an RCA salesman, relocated the family on a company transfer. His mother listened to jazz, while older brother Hal played trumpet and introduced him to Charlie Parker.

Grossman took up alto saxophone at eight in elementary-school music classes and soon focused on Parker and Jackie McLean. At thirteen, he teamed with Hal in The Uniques, an Adderley-oriented quintet that played weekend jobs around Pittsburgh. The brothers appeared at the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival and on local public television. Steve and Hal also opened for Duke Ellington on a Pittsburgh engagement.

Grossman returned to New York by sixteen and sat in with Elvin Jones at Pookie’s Pub on Hudson Street. He took up soprano saxophone in 1967 under the influence of John Coltrane and added tenor the following year. Grossman joined the Jazz Samaritans in 1968 with drummer Lenny White and pianist George Cables, with drummer Billy Cobham and bassist Clint Houston among the other participants. He appeared with White and pianist Weldon Irvine on the 1968 session for “Mr. P.C.,” later issued on Irvine’s archival collection Weldon & The Kats. Grossman also joined Saturday jam sessions at Slugs’ Saloon with trumpeter Woody Shaw and pianist Kenny Barron.

He enrolled at Juilliard in Manhattan and spent off-hours in loft sessions with saxophonist Dave Liebman and bassist Gene Perla. At the Village Gate, Grossman met Miles Davis, who brought Steve to Columbia Studio E on Nov. 19, 1969, for “Great Expectations,” which appeared on the 1974 outtakes collection Big Fun. Davis added Grossman to his working band at the start of 1970 as Wayne Shorter left the group. Grossman recorded material that appeared on A Tribute to Jack Johnson and Miles Davis at Fillmore. He left Davis in 1970 and worked with organist Lonnie Smith and guitarist George Benson.

Gene Perla brought Grossman into the Elvin Jones band by the December 1971 Merry-Go-Round sessions at Van Gelder Studio. The quartet of Grossman, saxophonist Dave Liebman, bassist Perla, and Jones recorded Live at the Lighthouse in September 1972. Grossman continued with Jones through the July 1973 sessions later issued on The Prime Element. Perla also played almost daily with Grossman and drummer–percussionist Don Alias at his Manhattan loft, where keyboardist Jan Hammer joined them periodically.

Perla secured recording time through studio work with Utopia personnel Mark “Moogy” Klingman and Todd Rundgren, then assembled Grossman, Hammer, Alias, and himself for the Sept. 4–6, 1973 sessions that produced Some Shapes to Come.

Discography:

• Some Shapes to Come (1974)
• Jazz a Confronto 23 (1975)
• Born at the Same Time (1977)
• Terra Firma (1977)
• New Moon (1978 • Steve Grossman & J.F. Jenny Clark)
• Perspective (1979)
• Katonah (1986)
• Love Is the Thing (1987 • Cedar Walton, Steve Grossman, David Williams & Billy Higgins)