Gigi Gryce (born George General Grice Jr.; November 28, 1925 – March 17, 1983), later in life changing his name to Basheer Qusim, was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator.

Gryce's compositional bent includes harmonic choices similar to those of contemporaries Benny Golson, Tadd Dameron[1] and Horace Silver.

Gryce's parents were of modest means: his father owned a small cleaning and pressing service, and his mother, Rebecca Rials, was a seamstress who also helped her husband run the business.

Especially as the Great Depression began to take its toll on the family's financial welfare, the Gryces did their best to instill the value of discipline and hard work in their children.

Many of the Gryce children were encouraged to pursue vocal performance at church, school, and other community; for a time the family even held weekly recitals in their home.

Even through this hardship, however, Rebecca continued to motivate her children for success through strict but supportive parenting, encouraging musical development, hard work, discipline, and Christian morals.

It is unclear exactly when Gigi first began learning the clarinet – it is rumored he may have started as early as age 9 or 10, but the first evidence for his pursuit appears later as he entered high school.

Gryce continued to pursue music during his two-year term, making his way into the navy band and earning the rank of musician second class.

While stationed in Great Lakes, Illinois, Gryce spent time in Chicago during leaves and became more acquainted with the sound of bebop.

It was at this time that he bought his own alto saxophone and, in Chicago, that he met musicians Andrew "Goon" Gardner and Harry Curtis.

At the Boston Conservatory Gryce developed his theoretical background and studied classical composition, writing three symphonies and a ballet in addition to other works.

He was very much inspired and influenced by the work and philosophy of Boston Conservatory composer Alan Hovhaness, a musical eclectic whose passion was for melodicism and lyricism.

Gryce traveled between the two cities, and arranged for local bands including those of Sabby Lewis, Phil Edmonds, and Bunky Emerson.

[17] The recordings Gryce made with Clifford Brown and others on the tour were often hurried and done on the fly, yet they were instrumental in building his career, particularly as a composer.

In addition, Henri Renaud recorded an entire album exclusively of Gryce's work, which did a great deal to build his reputation.

[2][page needed] Gryce and the other personnel from the Hampton Band returned to New York in November 1953, where the hard bop scene was just beginning to gain traction.

The record made in May 1955 by the Farmer-Gryce quintet featured pianist Freddie Redd, bassist Addison Farmer, and drummer Art Taylor.

The Farmer record featured non-standard forms, and adventurous arrangements which pushed the limits of the hard bop idiom.

His Signal Records arrangements were very much influenced by the style and instrumentation of Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool group, and were very well received by the jazz community.

The Tentet began as an outgrowth of Charles Mingus's Jazz Composers Workshop, and was very successful as a performing dance band despite its experimental nature.

His work with the Oscar Pettiford Orchestra was also extremely well-recognized, producing significant coverage to the musicians who participated as well as to Gryce himself.

[21] In 1957 Gryce and Donald Byrd collaborated on a series of projects with Jazz Lab, which produced play-along recordings as educational tools.

He continued to play with the Jazz Lab, as well as writing for Betty Carter, Art Farmer, Jimmy Cleveland, Curtis Fuller, and Max Roach.

[24] Gryce worked on a handful of other projects in 1960, including a film score to On the Sound by Fred Baker and a final studio recording on Randy Weston's Uhuru Afrika.

He dissolved his publishing companies in 1963 and gave up his music career, thereafter adopting his Islamic name entirely, Basheer Qusim.

[40] While in many ways his work exemplifies the conventions of the hard-bop era, Gryce always attempted to push the limits of common practice.

As an educated composer with an extensive theoretical background, Gryce was prone to unconventional harmonization, form, and instrumentation as his style developed.

In "Up in Quincy's Place", one of his very early tunes, Gryce was rather ahead of his time in his frequent use of quartal harmony, a practice that would be popularized during the cool jazz era.

[41] His approach to hard bop trod the line between experimental and accessible, particularly in later work with the Teddy Charles Tentet and the Oscar Pettiford Orchestra.

The song is included on Samara Joy's "Linger Awhile" which won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.