Richard Grossman (November 14, 1937 – October 2, 1992) was a jazz pianist known for his work as an improviser. He began his musical career in the late 1950s in Philadelphia, moved to the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

of California in 1978, to record with a band of his making in Philadelphia, Duck Soup, and moved to Los Angeles in 1979, where he lived with his wife, poet Dorothea Grossman, until his death. Over the span of his career, he collaborated with musicians including Lee Morgan,

Clarence Sharpe Clarence Hardy "C." Sharpe (May 5, 1931, St. Louis - January 28, 1990, New York City) was an American jazz saxophonist. Sharpe's stepfather, Nathaniel, was a saxophonist in Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, and his father was big band vocalist Be ...

, Reggie Workman, and Alex Cline.

Life and career

Born in New York City on November 14, 1937, Grossman grew up in Mississippi and Georgia during his early life. His teenage years were spent in Pennsylvania where he attended schools in Harrisburg and Philadelphia. He began his professional career as a jazz pianist while a high school student in Philadelphia in the mid 1950s. During the latter half of the 1950s he was an active part of the post-bop jazz scene in that city, playing with musicians like trumpeter Lee Morgan; double bassists

Jimmy Garrison James Emory Garrison (March 3, 1934 – April 7, 1976) was an American jazz double bassist. He is best remembered for his association with John Coltrane from 1961 to 1967. Career Garrison was raised in both Miami and Philadelphia where he l ...

, Henry Grimes, and Reggie Workman; and saxophonist

Odean Pope Odean Pope (born October 24, 1938) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Biography Pope was raised in Philadelphia, where he learned from Ray Bryant while young. Early in his career, at Philadelphia's Uptown Theater, Pope played behind a numbe ...

to name a few. In 1963 Grossman began playing free jazz and he led the New Music Quintet, a Philadelphia free jazz ensemble, in 1965-1965. He produced the first formal Philadelphia concert of free jazz in May 1965. From 1972-1978 he led the rock band Duck Soup, first in Philadelphia and then in San Francisco, California. In 1978 Grossman moved to Los Angeles and was thereafter primarily active as a solo artist. He did, however, still occasionally lead small groups of musicians with whom he made a few recordings, including ''In the Air'' (1989, Nine Winds 0146) and ''Trio in Real Time'' (1989–90, Nine Winds 0134). From 1989 until his death in Los Angeles on October 2, 1992 he taught improvised music and jazz on the faculty of the

Southern California Institute of Architecture Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private architecture school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1972, SCI-Arc was initially regarded as both institutionally and artistically avant-garde and more adventurous than t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grossman, Richard American jazz musicians 1937 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American pianists American male pianists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni Southern California Institute of Architecture faculty