Larry Grenadier

Larry Grenadier, a jazz double bassist, has assembled a wide-ranging catalog through associations with numerous pivotal figures across the idiom. Across four decades of performance and recording, he cultivated a distinctive approach marked by precise yet supple rhythmic instincts. His instantly identifiable style blends lyrical nuance, inventive exploration, and inquisitive phrasing with a rich, resonant woody sonority. These qualities positioned him as a frequent sideman and trusted partner beginning in the mid-1980s, when he appeared on the album Blues for Red with Larry Vuckovich’s quartet alongside Charles McPherson and Dusko Goykovich. Prior to commencing his extended association in 1993 with pianist Brad Mehldau’s renowned trio, Grenadier recorded and toured with guitarists Wolfgang Muthspiel and Mike Stern plus keyboardist Tom Coster, and contributed to half the tracks on D’Angelo’s debut album Brown Sugar. During the opening decade of the twenty-first century his primary outlets remained Mehldau’s group and a trio led by Pat Metheny, though he also furnished essential support on early recordings by pianists Chihiro Yamanaka and Akiko Grace. Jazz’s most sought-after accompanist, he has lent his services to Paul Motian, Enrico Rava, Jamie Saft, and the Fly Trio—the cooperative he launched with saxophonist Mark Turner and drummer Jeff Ballard. Grenadier’s instinctive empathy has likewise suited him to vocalists such as Rebecca Martin, his life and artistic partner, as well as Monica Borzym, Sophie Milman, and Ariel Pocock. More recently he has recorded with trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, co-founded and documented the jazz supergroup Hudson, and sustained his work with both Mehldau and Muthspiel.

Grenadier entered a highly musical household in San Francisco on February 6, 1966. He first studied trumpet—the instrument of his father Albert, who instructed him in music reading and supplied his earliest lessons. One year afterward he received his initial electric bass, enabling him to perform in a covers trio with brothers Steve Grenadier and Phil Grenadier. At age twelve, inspired by a live performance from bassist Ray Brown, he immersed himself in the recorded legacies of Charles Mingus, Paul Chambers, Wilbur Ware, and Oscar Pettiford. By sixteen he was already working professionally with numerous participants in his hometown’s jazz community and supporting visiting luminaries such as Johnny Griffin, Bobby Hutcherson, Art Farmer, Frank Morgan, and Toots Thielemans—most of whom pianist Vuckovich had introduced him to, and in whose ensemble he likewise performed.

Grenadier earned a degree in English literature from Stanford University in 1989. He subsequently relocated to Boston for nearly two years with Gary Burton’s band, then moved to New York City, where he accumulated further experience through engagements with Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, and Betty Carter’s group. Following his 1993 entry into Mehldau’s trio and his tours and sessions with Metheny, he embarked on a decade-long collaboration with Paul Motian and later appeared with Billy Higgins, Charles Lloyd, John Scofield, Joshua Redman, Brian Blade, David Sanchez, Chris Potter, and Danilo Perez, among others.

Grenadier’s participation in the Fly trio alongside longtime associates Ballard and Turner yielded three widely praised albums: the self-titled debut in 2004, Sky & Country in 2009, and Year of the Snake in 2016. He also maintains ongoing tours and recordings with Martin. In early 2017 Grenadier united with Scofield and keyboardist John Medeski inside Jack DeJohnette’s quartet Hudson; the ensemble released its self-titled debut that June to mark DeJohnette’s seventy-fifth birthday and subsequently embarked on a tour.

ECM Records issued Grenadier’s first collection of unaccompanied bass solos in February 2019, continuing a label tradition. The Gleaners comprises original compositions by the bassist together with interpretations of works by George Gershwin, John Coltrane, and Motian, plus two pieces Muthspiel wrote expressly for him; Grenadier additionally supplied an instrumental reading of a song by Martin.