Home » Jazz Musicians » Don Grusin

Don Grusin

Don Grusin is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer. He is the younger brother of Dave Grusin.

Don Grusin grew up in Denver, Colorado. His father, a native of Latvia, was a classical violinist. His brother, Dave Grusin, is a pianist, record producer, and co-founder of GRP Records.

Grusin graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's degree in economics. In the early 1970s, he was an economics professor in Guadalajara, Mexico. Soon after, he taught economics at Foothill College in California.

Grusin performed in Bogota, Colombia, as a member of Azteca, a Latin jazz fusion band led by Pete Escovedo that included Escovedo's daughter, drummer Sheila E. The trip sparked a lifelong interest in Latin music. In 1975, Quincy Jones invited him to tour with his band, and Grusin was persuaded to leave teaching for a career in music. He worked as a studio musician on albums by Randy Crawford, Billy Eckstine, Joe Pass, and the Pointer Sisters. He formed the fusion group Friendship with Lee Ritenour, Ernie Watts, and Alex Acuña and recorded one album, then released solo albums in 1981 and 1983. In 1985, he produced the album Musician for Ernie Watts, and it won a Grammy Award. Grusin's live album The Hang (Sovereign Artists, 2004) received a Grammy Award nomination, and he won Grammy Awards for his work on two albums by the Paul Winter Consort. He won an Echo Award for the album Quality Time, recorded with Peter Fessler.

As a record producer or keyboardist, Grusin has worked with Gerald Albright, Patti Austin, David Benoit, Larry Carlton, Oscar Castro-Neves, Dori Caymmi, Gilberto Gil, Jim Hall, Sérgio Mendes, Airto Moreira, Milton Nascimento, Flora Purim, Nelson Rangell, Brenda Russell, Zoot Sims, Leon Ware, and Sadao Watanabe. Source: Wikipedia

Tags

Education

Music Education Monday: A jazz piano lesson from Don Grusin

Music Education Monday: A jazz piano lesson from Don Grusin

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week for Music Education Monday, you can check out a video lesson from pianist Don Grusin. The younger brother of musician, producer, and label owner Dave Grusin, Don Grusin has made 17 albums as a leader, and has been heard in hundreds of other recordings, films and TV shows made during the past 40 years, working with jazz musicians and singers including Lee Ritenour, Brenda Russell, Tom Browne, Ernie Watts, Joe Pass, Eric Marienthal, David Benoit, Patti Austin, Harvey ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Sleek Buick

Origin Records
2014

buy

Whistling Midgets

Dan Dean Productions
1999

buy

Banana Fish

Nonesuch
1994

buy

Native Land

Southport Records
1993

buy

Pacific Aire

Nebula
1991

buy

Raven

Southport Records
1990

buy

California Avenue

From: Sleek Buick
By Don Grusin

Videos

Similar

The Rippingtons
band / ensemble / orchestra
Kenny G
saxophone, soprano
Yellowjackets
band / ensemble / orchestra
Tom Scott
saxophone, tenor
Acoustic Alchemy
band / ensemble / orchestra
Najee
saxophone

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.