Donald Byrd/Gigi Gryce: The Jazz Lab. "New Formulas From The Jazz Lab"

This is episode number 4 from this month's Jazz Features on musicians who have been forgotten or have operated under the radar. The members of the Jazz Lab are all well known except for the co-leader, alto saxophonist/composer/arranger Gigi Gryce. Gryce was a very very important figure in the 1950s but dropped out of the scene and quit music in 1961. It's a long story but he spent the next 20 years up to his death in 1983 as a school teacher and has a school in Harlem named after him. Gryce was a very distinctive alto saxophonist with a small, even sound and though he may not have played with the drama of Jackie McLean or Phil Woods, he was an original stylist. He was also a great arranger and composer and his tunes were played by everyone of consequence. The Jazz Lab co-led by trumpeter Donald Byrd and Gryce existed for about 10 months in 1957 and they recorded for Columbia and some independent Jazz labels and this album for RCA called "New Formulas From The Jazz Lab". Ironically it is one of their finest albums but it was never issued in the USA....only in France and Japan! Byrd and Gryce excel with the great Hank Jones on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Arthur Taylor on drums. The album has two tunes by Gryce, two by pianist Jones and one by Byrd and one more by pianist Ray Bryant (who occasionally played with the Lab). New Formulas From The Jazz Jab is in no way "far out" or experimental but solid modern Jazz that swings, is melodic and sounds very fresh. It is the sound of a working band rather than a pick-up crew. It's worth your time and Mr. Gryce will surprise you too!