My Grover Washington, Jr. collection February 1, 2012

From Grover’s AllMusic bio page

I was first exposed to the late Grover Washington, Jr. in 1996, the year I began listening to what was then CD 101.9 (now FM News 101.9) here in New York.  “Mister Magic” was the first song I heard.  Then, there were “Take Five (Take Another Five)” and “Soulful Strut.”  In the early 200s, Before I wised up and bought physical CDs or digital MP3s (through iTunes or Amazon), I downloaded two of those songs through a free file-sharing program.

When my aunt moved to South Florida in 2003, she gave me a Grover compilation album.  I only listened to two songs on it: “Let It Flow (For Dr. J),” a tribute to Grover’s love of Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers, and “East River Drive,” a tribute to the Manhattan parkway otherwise known as the FDR Drive.

A few years ago, with the help of my friend Matt Marron’s TWC Classics site, a tribute to The Weather Channel, I learned of many more Grover songs that were used in the Local Forecasts in the 1980s.  They included “Winelight” and “Jet Stream.”

Finally, in December 2010, I took the big step and began my Grover Washington, Jr. collection of CDs.  I bought:

• Winelight (1980)
• Come Morning (1981)
• The Best Is Yet To Come (1982)
• Inside Moves (1984)
• Time Out Of Mind (1989)
• Next Exit (1992)
• Soulful Strut (1996)

That was it until a few nights ago after reading an online interview with Bob James (h/t Fourplay website cross-post).  Since I didn’t have Grover’s early albums in my collection yet, I didn’t think of this:

You were with CTI for a few years before your own project debuted. When did Creed Taylor interject and aid in the progression of things?

Well, I was working a lot with Creed at the time for CTI. But I was working primarily as an arranger and would play piano on other jazz artists’ records. After doing this for about two or three years, on a fairly stable basis, and being on the support staff for other artists like Grover Washington, finally Creed asked me if I wanted to do my own album. So of course I said yes. One ended up being my first [album] for CTI.

Bob appeared on Grover’s first five albums.  Saturday night, I bought the last two of those five and a few after that:

• Mister Magic (1974)
• Feels So Good (1975) (Amazon MP3s)
• A Secret Place (1976) (Amazon MP3s)
• Reed Seed (1978)
• Paradise (1979)
• Strawberry Moon (1987)

Some of the early stuff is a little too fusion-y for me, but still great.

Grover Washington, Jr. died in December 1999 at the age of 56.  His legacy lives on through his recordings, a generation of saxophonists inspired by him, and jazz fans like me.