Grady Tate Has Died

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Todd Barkan has reported on his Facebook page that drummer Grady Tate died Sunday, October 8th at the age of 85.

[HutchFan]

Sad news. Sorry to hear this.

May he rest in peace.

[Hardbopjazz]

Sad. R.I.P. Grady. Thanks for the music.

[soulpope]

R.I.P ....

[JSngry]

Not just a drummer, but a very distinctive vocalist who made one record, Feeling Life , that is just a ginormous pile of WTF????-ness courtesy of arranger Robert Freedman and Tate's unflinching ability to engage those arrangements on their own terms.

and oh yeah, second only to Gene Ammons as far as having the definitive version of "Sack Full Of Dreams".

But of course, also a superb drummer who always brought it, to any gig, for anybody. The phrase "consummate professional" and "total musician" can be applied to him in the best possible ways.

RIP.

[Cyril]

Sad news.

R.I.P. Grady Tate.  Thank you for so much music.......

 

[catesta]

I met Grady Tate in Scottsdale AZ maybe 12-13 years ago at a hotel hosting a mini jazz festival. He was pissed that the hotel did not have cigarettes and it was too far to the nearest store that did. I was able to come through with cigs and in exchange for the favor he shared some stories and bought me a few drinks.

Nice guy. RIP

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Not just a drummer, but a very distinctive vocalist who made one record, Feeling Life , that is just a ginormous pile of WTF????-ness courtesy of arranger Robert Freedman and Tate's unflinching ability to engage those arrangements on their own terms.

and oh yeah, second only to Gene Ammons as far as having the definitive version of "Sack Full Of Dreams".

But of course, also a superb drummer who always brought it, to any gig, for anybody. The phrase "consummate professional" and "total musician" can be applied to him in the best possible ways.

RIP.

One of his biggest claims to fame as a vocalist was his work on the Schoolhouse Rock videos of the 70's.

[duaneiac]

Thank you Grady Tate for so much instrumental and vocal musical enjoyment.  May you rest in peace.

"I Think It's Going To Rain Today"

 

[clifford_thornton]

Wow, RIP. 

[JSngry]

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

 

[mjzee]

Very sad news.  RIP.

[JSngry]

The first time I knowingly heard him was out of the cutout bins, some Leonard Feather thing about 60s Encyclopedia Of Jazz The Blues, Side One was an Oliver Nelson session, three tracks, and Grady Tate caught my attention on all three, especially on "I Remember Bird". That was when I was a kid, and ever since then, I've never avoided a record because Grady Tate was on it. In fact, on a few, he's been the swing factor (no pun intended, although totally apparent).

This guy really played a lot of music, good music, and seems to have had a stable life as a result. More of that, please!

[mikeweil]

7 hours ago, JSngry said:

But of course, also a superb drummer who always brought it, to any gig, for anybody. The phrase "consummate professional" and "total musician" can be applied to him in the best possible ways.

Couldn't say it better. There were very few like him, on that level. One of my favourites, and always someone to listen to on any record.

I wonder who would have been the perfect arranger for his marvellous voice - Gary McFarland? He could have been a latter day Nat Cole with the right background. I like Feeling Life.

R.I.P., Mr. Tate, and many thanks for plenty of inspired music.

Edited October 10, 2017 by mikeweil

[JSngry]

Here we go. More "interesting" then than now, but damn, Grady Tate, not just playing the gig, but making the gig. Seems like you never had to worry if Grady Tate was on the gig.

 

[CJ Shearn]

What a sad loss.  One of my fav drummers ever, the way he could swing a quarter note, and also be all in the music but be totally sensitive was unreal.

[Gheorghe]

Really a sad loss. Drummers are most important to me, I think first of all I listen to what a drummer does and if the drummer on a record or a live date is not what I want to hear, it´s hard for me to enjoy the thing completely.

I think I remember I became really aware of  Grady Tate on some  Dizzy Gillespie Dream Band, I think it was a big concert and Grady Tate was on the Big Band selections, together with Candido, and Max was on the small band selections. Anyway, fantastic, and besides good traps work I like drummers where you see he´s happy with the thing he does, smiling like Billy Higgins, Al Foster, and Grady Tate really had it as a good drummer and a good showman.

He will be missed.

[sidewinder]

Very sad news, such a fine drummer. So many fine sessions he played on - Stan Getz ‘Sweet Rain’ probably my favourite. RIP.

[GA Russell]

RIP.  He was on one of my most favorite albums, Stan Getz's Sweet Rain.

[mikeweil]

That reminds me that he was arguably the best bossa nova player among all jazz drummers - understood that groove and put some ofthe freedom of jazz drumming into it without losing it. Great. 

[Justin V]

I don''t have any of his leader dates, but he was one heck of a drummer and vocalist.  Thank you for the music, Mr. Tate, and rest in peace.

[sgcim]

21 hours ago, JSngry said:

Here we go. More "interesting" then than now, but damn, Grady Tate, not just playing the gig, but making the gig. Seems like you never had to worry if Grady Tate was on the gig.

 

I'll never forget seeing Grady at Carnegie Hall in concert with Michel LeGrand. His groove on the Phil Woods feature, You Must Remember Spring, had the audience on their feet, in a frenzy of applause. RIP, Grady.

Of course, Organissimo has taught me that Phil Woods had nothing to do with that reception. After all, according to the majority of Organissimo, Phil wasn't an important, great jazz artist.

And the fact that Oliver Nelson's arrangement of I Remember Bird featured Phil, well, that must've been an oversight or something.

They probably just couldn't find anyone else, or maybe that Encyclopedia of Jazz guy stuck him in there.

And when Oliver Nelson defied a death threat nailed on his door threatening his life if he didn't get that white, lead alto sax player out of the band, well, that must have been just a coincidence or sumpthin'...

[JSngry]

dude, that's nuts.

[JSngry]

That "I Remember Bird" made an impression on me as a kid. And Frank Strozier did not diminish that impression.

OTOH, Ed Thigpen, great drummer, but still, make mine Tate.

Grady Tate, that is. Not Larry Tate, not Sharon Tate, even if Live From Los Angeles, no, we all know how that turned out. GRADY Tate.

Remember, it it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it might well be Grady Tate. Quack quack quack. Duck, duck quack.