Biography
Jerry Granelli stood out among drummers, percussionists, composers, and bandleaders for his gracefully melodic and supple musical sensibility. Fellow players held him in high regard as an ageless, shape-shifting figure who could move fluidly across periods, styles, and even his personal mannerisms in service of whatever music was before him. Among the landmark jazz sessions that feature his work are Vince Guaraldi’s Cast Your Fate to the Wind: Jazz Impressions of Black Oprheus and Charlie Brown Christmas, together with Mose Allison’s Your Mind Is on Vacation. Across a sixty-year span devoted primarily to jazz, he also performed with the folk ensemble the Kingston Trio, contributed to psychedelic rock alongside We Five, and served as a sideman for Sly Stone. Granelli helped establish the Creative Music Department at Naropa Institute alongside Collin Walcott and brought out his first album as a leader, Visions, in 1978. During his tenure teaching at Seattle’s Cornish Institute in the 1980s he encountered Jay Clayton, Gary Peacock, Ralph Towner, and Julian Priester, all of whom appeared on his 1989 recording One Day at a Time. The 1990s brought international recognition for his Koputai project while he continued sideman duties with Jane Ira Bloom, Charlie Mariano, Annabelle Wilson, Ford, and Lee Konitz. In that same period he assembled two working ensembles—Jerry Granelli UFB and Jerry Granelli & Badlands. He issued The Only Juan with pianist Jamie Saft in 2001 and directed the rock-oriented V16 Project in 2003. Following the 2010 solo percussion release 1313, he assembled the 2017 date Dance Hall featuring guitarists Robben Ford and Bill Frisell.
Born in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1940, Granelli received his earliest exposure to jazz from his father, an admirer of Gene Krupa who performed in an Italian wedding band, and from an uncle devoted to bebop. By age four he could sit at his father’s drum set and play Louis Jordan’s “Open the Door Richard.” After resisting his parents’ wish that he study violin, he trained with classical percussionist Al Carr, sat in on Dixieland standards with his father’s circle, and entered local competitions, defeating virtually every other child and adolescent entrant by the time he turned ten. Weekly outings with his father introduced him to the city’s vibrant scene at the Jazz Workshop, the Blackhawk, Jimbo’s Bop City, and The Lighthouse. At twelve his uncle took him to hear Charlie Parker. Max Roach’s melodic and harmonic approach on “Parisian Thoroughfare” sparked an epiphany that revealed “a musician that plays the drums.” As a teenager Granelli spent two formative years studying with Dave Brubeck Quartet drummer Joe Morello; during those years he also absorbed the playing of Jo Jones, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Danny Richmond, and Elvin Jones, each of whom treated the aspiring musician with notable generosity.
Granelli worked in a variety of pickup groups that included cabaret and R&B outfits. His first major opportunity arrived in the early 1960s when, after touring with the Johnny Hamlin Quartet, he learned that Vince Guaraldi’s rhythm section had relocated to Los Angeles. The pianist’s calendar was full thanks to the chart and radio success of Cast Your Fate to the Wind, and he offered Granelli a string of Sacramento engagements that led to a permanent spot. Granelli stayed with the group and appeared on nearly every Charlie Brown-related Guaraldi session, among them Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), the latter becoming one of the most cherished soundtracks in American music. Although the Guaraldi association proved lucrative, Granelli eventually found it creatively limiting. Having already heard Dewey Redman and Pharoah Sanders at Bop City, he would finish his regular gig and then spend four additional hours playing with experimental musicians at the same venue. After departing Guaraldi he joined progressive pianist Denny Zeitlin’s trio, recording Carnival and Zeitgeist for Columbia and the live set Live at the Trident while also accompanying vocalists Carmen McRae, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lou Rawls, and Mose Allison, the last on the defining 1976 album Your Mind Is on Vacation. Through radio host and budding producer Sylvester Stewart—later known as Sly Stone—Granelli connected with a wide circle of folk and psychedelic artists. His drumming on We Five’s “You Were on My Mind” helped drive the single to number three and double-platinum certification. He also performed live with pianist Bill Evans yet declined an invitation to join Evans’s trio. Another non-jazz affiliation came with the Ensemble, later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for its role in the psychedelic era. Already a practicing Buddhist, Granelli attended a talk by Tibetan teacher Chogyam Trungpa and likened the experience to his first encounter with Charlie Parker. He visited the nascent Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, in 1974 and 1975, relocated there to teach in 1976, and with Oregon’s Collin Walcott founded the Creative Music Department, serving as co-director until 1980. While at Naropa he released his debut leader album, Visions, in 1978. In 1980 he moved to Seattle’s Cornish Institute, where he collaborated with fellow faculty members Ralph Towner, Julian Priester, Gary Peacock, Robben Ford, and vocalist Jay Clayton; the latter partnership yielded Sound Songs for JMT in 1987.
Granelli’s 1990 leader albums One Day at a Time and Koputai marked the start of an especially prolific phase. He relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and joined a local conservatory faculty. In 1991 he co-led Forces of Flight with bassist Glen Moore and vocalist Annabelle Wilson, followed swiftly by the conceptual jazz oratorio A Song I Thought I Heard Buddy Sing and Another Place, then participated in Lee Konitz’s Haiku session. Two bands emerged during the decade: Jerry Granelli UFB, which issued News from the Street in 1995 and Broken Circle the following year on Intuition, and Jerry Granelli & Badlands, responsible for Enter, A Dragon (1998) and Crowd Theory (1999) on Songlines. He also recorded with Ford and Charlie Mariano in those years and closed the decade with his own Music Has Its Way with Me in 1999.
The new century opened with notable activity. On Charlie Haden’s recommendation Granelli was engaged for Pat Metheny & the Heath Brothers’ 2000 release Move to the Groove, which also featured Ralph Towner on synthesizer. A sustained partnership with pianist Jamie Saft began with The Only Juan on Loveslave in 2001 and continued with the avant duo album Iron Sky, recorded with clarinetist Jeff Reilly. In 2003 Granelli formed the avant-rock V16 Project alongside bassist Anthony Cox and guitarists David Tronzo and Christian Kogel, releasing a self-titled album. Sandhills Reunion appeared in 2004, placing the drummer alongside Francois Houle, Reilly, Kogel, Rinde Eckert, and others. Two further V16 Project recordings followed: The Sonic Temple: Monday and Tuesday (2007) and Vancouver ’08.
Granelli became a Canadian citizen in 2010 and issued the widely praised solo percussion album 1313 on the independent Divorce label. He and Saft returned with the duo recording Nowness on the pianist’s Veal imprint in 2013. In 2015 he led the pianoless sextet date What I Hear Now for Canada’s Addo imprint. Two years later the universally acclaimed Dance Hall emerged on JustinTime/Nettwerk. Produced by Lee Townsend, the buoyant collection of blues and R&B material featured arranger Stephen Bernstein, guitarists Ford and Bill Frisell, saxophonists Steve Kaldestad and Bill Runge, and trumpeter Derry Byrne, while Granelli’s son J. Anthony Granelli played bass and served as musical director. At nearly eighty, in 2020 Granelli released two projects: a reunion duo album with Clayton titled Alone Together on Sunnyside and Plays the Music of Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison on RareNoise, the latter with Bradley Jones on bass and Saft on piano. Jerry Granelli died at his home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on July 20, 2021, at the age of 80.
Born in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1940, Granelli received his earliest exposure to jazz from his father, an admirer of Gene Krupa who performed in an Italian wedding band, and from an uncle devoted to bebop. By age four he could sit at his father’s drum set and play Louis Jordan’s “Open the Door Richard.” After resisting his parents’ wish that he study violin, he trained with classical percussionist Al Carr, sat in on Dixieland standards with his father’s circle, and entered local competitions, defeating virtually every other child and adolescent entrant by the time he turned ten. Weekly outings with his father introduced him to the city’s vibrant scene at the Jazz Workshop, the Blackhawk, Jimbo’s Bop City, and The Lighthouse. At twelve his uncle took him to hear Charlie Parker. Max Roach’s melodic and harmonic approach on “Parisian Thoroughfare” sparked an epiphany that revealed “a musician that plays the drums.” As a teenager Granelli spent two formative years studying with Dave Brubeck Quartet drummer Joe Morello; during those years he also absorbed the playing of Jo Jones, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Danny Richmond, and Elvin Jones, each of whom treated the aspiring musician with notable generosity.
Granelli worked in a variety of pickup groups that included cabaret and R&B outfits. His first major opportunity arrived in the early 1960s when, after touring with the Johnny Hamlin Quartet, he learned that Vince Guaraldi’s rhythm section had relocated to Los Angeles. The pianist’s calendar was full thanks to the chart and radio success of Cast Your Fate to the Wind, and he offered Granelli a string of Sacramento engagements that led to a permanent spot. Granelli stayed with the group and appeared on nearly every Charlie Brown-related Guaraldi session, among them Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), the latter becoming one of the most cherished soundtracks in American music. Although the Guaraldi association proved lucrative, Granelli eventually found it creatively limiting. Having already heard Dewey Redman and Pharoah Sanders at Bop City, he would finish his regular gig and then spend four additional hours playing with experimental musicians at the same venue. After departing Guaraldi he joined progressive pianist Denny Zeitlin’s trio, recording Carnival and Zeitgeist for Columbia and the live set Live at the Trident while also accompanying vocalists Carmen McRae, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lou Rawls, and Mose Allison, the last on the defining 1976 album Your Mind Is on Vacation. Through radio host and budding producer Sylvester Stewart—later known as Sly Stone—Granelli connected with a wide circle of folk and psychedelic artists. His drumming on We Five’s “You Were on My Mind” helped drive the single to number three and double-platinum certification. He also performed live with pianist Bill Evans yet declined an invitation to join Evans’s trio. Another non-jazz affiliation came with the Ensemble, later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for its role in the psychedelic era. Already a practicing Buddhist, Granelli attended a talk by Tibetan teacher Chogyam Trungpa and likened the experience to his first encounter with Charlie Parker. He visited the nascent Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, in 1974 and 1975, relocated there to teach in 1976, and with Oregon’s Collin Walcott founded the Creative Music Department, serving as co-director until 1980. While at Naropa he released his debut leader album, Visions, in 1978. In 1980 he moved to Seattle’s Cornish Institute, where he collaborated with fellow faculty members Ralph Towner, Julian Priester, Gary Peacock, Robben Ford, and vocalist Jay Clayton; the latter partnership yielded Sound Songs for JMT in 1987.
Granelli’s 1990 leader albums One Day at a Time and Koputai marked the start of an especially prolific phase. He relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and joined a local conservatory faculty. In 1991 he co-led Forces of Flight with bassist Glen Moore and vocalist Annabelle Wilson, followed swiftly by the conceptual jazz oratorio A Song I Thought I Heard Buddy Sing and Another Place, then participated in Lee Konitz’s Haiku session. Two bands emerged during the decade: Jerry Granelli UFB, which issued News from the Street in 1995 and Broken Circle the following year on Intuition, and Jerry Granelli & Badlands, responsible for Enter, A Dragon (1998) and Crowd Theory (1999) on Songlines. He also recorded with Ford and Charlie Mariano in those years and closed the decade with his own Music Has Its Way with Me in 1999.
The new century opened with notable activity. On Charlie Haden’s recommendation Granelli was engaged for Pat Metheny & the Heath Brothers’ 2000 release Move to the Groove, which also featured Ralph Towner on synthesizer. A sustained partnership with pianist Jamie Saft began with The Only Juan on Loveslave in 2001 and continued with the avant duo album Iron Sky, recorded with clarinetist Jeff Reilly. In 2003 Granelli formed the avant-rock V16 Project alongside bassist Anthony Cox and guitarists David Tronzo and Christian Kogel, releasing a self-titled album. Sandhills Reunion appeared in 2004, placing the drummer alongside Francois Houle, Reilly, Kogel, Rinde Eckert, and others. Two further V16 Project recordings followed: The Sonic Temple: Monday and Tuesday (2007) and Vancouver ’08.
Granelli became a Canadian citizen in 2010 and issued the widely praised solo percussion album 1313 on the independent Divorce label. He and Saft returned with the duo recording Nowness on the pianist’s Veal imprint in 2013. In 2015 he led the pianoless sextet date What I Hear Now for Canada’s Addo imprint. Two years later the universally acclaimed Dance Hall emerged on JustinTime/Nettwerk. Produced by Lee Townsend, the buoyant collection of blues and R&B material featured arranger Stephen Bernstein, guitarists Ford and Bill Frisell, saxophonists Steve Kaldestad and Bill Runge, and trumpeter Derry Byrne, while Granelli’s son J. Anthony Granelli played bass and served as musical director. At nearly eighty, in 2020 Granelli released two projects: a reunion duo album with Clayton titled Alone Together on Sunnyside and Plays the Music of Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison on RareNoise, the latter with Bradley Jones on bass and Saft on piano. Jerry Granelli died at his home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on July 20, 2021, at the age of 80.
Albums
