Biography
American composer, arranger, producer, pianist, and educator Don Grusin has built a distinguished career as a Grammy Award-winning artist whose work bridges jazz and pop while drawing particular inspiration from Brazilian and Latin American traditions. Growing up in Colorado as the younger sibling of pianist Dave Grusin, he began piano studies at age 6 and absorbed a broad range of sounds, from classical through his violinist father and jazz through his brother to country & western in local venues and R&B on the radio.
Although music remained central, Grusin completed a Bachelor's degree in Sociology followed by a Master's in Economics at the University of Colorado. He then spent the first half of the 1970s as a Fulbright Professor of Economics at the Autonomous University in Guadalajara, Mexico, while still performing. By the middle of the decade he was also instructing Economics at Foothills College near San Francisco; during this period he journeyed to Bogota, Colombia, alongside percussionist Pete Escovedo's Latin fusion group Azteca, which featured Escovedo's daughter Sheila E., and his engagement with Latin American music deepened into a lasting influence.
An invitation in 1975 to tour Japan and the United States with Quincy Jones' band prompted Grusin to commit fully to music. By the late 1970s he had become a sought-after session and freelance player, contributing to recordings by Randy Crawford, the Pointer Sisters, Joe Pass, and Billy Eckstine. In 1979 he issued an Elektra album with his jazz fusion ensemble Friendship, which included saxophonist Ernie Watts, guitarist Lee Ritenour, and percussionist Alex Acuña. His solo debut arrived on JVC with 10k-LA in 1981, followed by a self-titled project in 1983. The 1988 JVC release Sticks and Stones marked his first recorded collaboration with brother Dave.
From the 1980s onward Grusin has performed and produced for numerous artists, among them saxophonist Watts on the 1985 Grammy-winning Musican, Brazilian singer/songwriter Milton Nascimento, pianist David Benoit, Patti Austin, Sergio Mendes, Oscar Castro-Neves, Zoot Sims, Dori Caymmi, Sadao Watanabe, Frank Quintero, Brenda Russell, Gerald Albright, Nelson Rangell, Jim Hall, Gilberto Gil, Flora Purim, Airto, Larry Carlton, and Leon Ware. Under his own name he has released albums on several labels, notably GRP, including Raven in 1990, Zephyr in 1991, No Borders in 1992, Native Land in 1993, and Banana Fish in 1994. The trio recording Traveling Fancy appeared in 2000, and his 2004 live album The Hang earned a Grammy nomination. Additional Grammy honors followed for contributions to Paul Winter's Crestone in 2008 and Miho: Journey to the Mountain in 2010. Grusin, recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Music from Five Towns College in Huntington, New York, maintains an active schedule of performing, recording, and producing while teaching a multidisciplinary course at the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado that integrates his backgrounds in economics, music, film, ethnography, journalism, and art. He rejoined his brother for the 2011 live album One Night Only, and the 2012 project Trans Atlantica documents his partnership with Shakatak keyboardist Bill Sharpe.
Although music remained central, Grusin completed a Bachelor's degree in Sociology followed by a Master's in Economics at the University of Colorado. He then spent the first half of the 1970s as a Fulbright Professor of Economics at the Autonomous University in Guadalajara, Mexico, while still performing. By the middle of the decade he was also instructing Economics at Foothills College near San Francisco; during this period he journeyed to Bogota, Colombia, alongside percussionist Pete Escovedo's Latin fusion group Azteca, which featured Escovedo's daughter Sheila E., and his engagement with Latin American music deepened into a lasting influence.
An invitation in 1975 to tour Japan and the United States with Quincy Jones' band prompted Grusin to commit fully to music. By the late 1970s he had become a sought-after session and freelance player, contributing to recordings by Randy Crawford, the Pointer Sisters, Joe Pass, and Billy Eckstine. In 1979 he issued an Elektra album with his jazz fusion ensemble Friendship, which included saxophonist Ernie Watts, guitarist Lee Ritenour, and percussionist Alex Acuña. His solo debut arrived on JVC with 10k-LA in 1981, followed by a self-titled project in 1983. The 1988 JVC release Sticks and Stones marked his first recorded collaboration with brother Dave.
From the 1980s onward Grusin has performed and produced for numerous artists, among them saxophonist Watts on the 1985 Grammy-winning Musican, Brazilian singer/songwriter Milton Nascimento, pianist David Benoit, Patti Austin, Sergio Mendes, Oscar Castro-Neves, Zoot Sims, Dori Caymmi, Sadao Watanabe, Frank Quintero, Brenda Russell, Gerald Albright, Nelson Rangell, Jim Hall, Gilberto Gil, Flora Purim, Airto, Larry Carlton, and Leon Ware. Under his own name he has released albums on several labels, notably GRP, including Raven in 1990, Zephyr in 1991, No Borders in 1992, Native Land in 1993, and Banana Fish in 1994. The trio recording Traveling Fancy appeared in 2000, and his 2004 live album The Hang earned a Grammy nomination. Additional Grammy honors followed for contributions to Paul Winter's Crestone in 2008 and Miho: Journey to the Mountain in 2010. Grusin, recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Music from Five Towns College in Huntington, New York, maintains an active schedule of performing, recording, and producing while teaching a multidisciplinary course at the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado that integrates his backgrounds in economics, music, film, ethnography, journalism, and art. He rejoined his brother for the 2011 live album One Night Only, and the 2012 project Trans Atlantica documents his partnership with Shakatak keyboardist Bill Sharpe.
Albums
