Gregory Groover Jr.

JEWEL CASE CD

Gregory Groover’s Criss Cross debut, recorded on the Boston born-and-bred tenor saxophonist’s thirtieth birthday, is a tour de force. Joined by a bespoke sextet of his favorite players, all New York-based, Groover presents a recital of 11 original tone-parallels to family and friends, his intentions anticipated, illuminated and fulfilled by his gifted bandmates. Lovabye follows Groover’s formidable first full-length album.

During the lockdown, Groover had generated a group of “love songs and songs of people I love.” In spring 2023, he brought this music to Walter Smith III, who Groover had idolized as a teenager, and is now his friend and colleague at Berklee School of Music, their mutual alma mater, where Groover serves as Assistant Chair of the Ensemble Department. “I told Walter I’d like to play with some of my other heroes and peers,” Groover recalls. “He said, ‘What’s stopping you? The music is there.’ Luckily for me, everyone who I wanted to record with was available and happy to do it.”

“Greg’s composing supports how he plays,” Smith says. “He’s a thematic musician, whose playing very much relates to the song. He plays with a lot of energy, and he leads with that. The heart is the most important thing – the direction and motion of what he plays is where he really feels.

PERSONNEL:

Gregory Groover Jr.- (tenor sax)
Joel Ross - (Vibes)
Matthew Stevens - (guitar on tracks 2,3,11)
Aaron Parks - (piano)
Vicente Archer - (bass)
Marcus Gilmore - (drums)

Recorded August 16, 2023 in New York City, NY, USA

TRACKS:

01. 30
02. Bygone Towers
03. May All Your Storms Be Weathered
04. Joy
05. Lovabye
06. Stages
07. 5660
08. Ambivalence
09. Lovabye Theme
10. In For A Pound Or Penny
11. Cactus Lullaby