Don Grolnick

Throughout his professional life, pianist Don Grolnick cultivated a low-key and frequently overlooked profile, though fellow musicians consistently recognized his broad adaptability and deep capabilities. During his teenage years he performed with rock groups, yet jazz always held his primary interest. Early on he contributed to the fusion ensemble Dreams from 1969 to 1971, joined the Brecker Brothers beginning in 1975, and performed with Steps Ahead in the opening years of the 1980s. Over many decades he sustained an active career as a session player regularly enlisted by pop vocalists. Throughout the 1980s he worked across varied contexts with Joe Farrell, George Benson, Peter Erskine, David Sanborn, John Scofield, Mike Stern, and the Bob Mintzer big band. His strongest recorded statements appear on the 1986 Hip Pocket debut Hearts and Numbers together with his two Blue Note albums, later combined and reissued as a double-CD.