The son of a church chorister and an avid collector of old jazz records, Grover
Washington Jr., born December 12, 1943, was always well-versed in classic jazz,
first learning to play the saxophone at the age of eight when he'd sneak into
blues and jazz clubs in Buffalo. He subsequently joined The Four Clefs before
being drafted into the US Army, where he met the drummer Billy Cobham, who
introduced him to many influential New York musicians, including Leon Spencer,
with whom he played on his first two albums. Grover's own early albums won him a
lot of respect for the quality of h...