Grovertime

Grover Washington, Jr. - Number 5 (On the Dark Side)

Well you're probably not wondering where I went, but I'm here anyway and it's gonna be a December to remember, even if it's just me and the memories.

I was just explaining to my husband that people of his generation may not know who today's birthday boy is, but they might know people whose parents conceived them to the man's music.

Such is the legend of Grover Washington, Jr., whose sultry, mellifluous saxophony has been the backdrop for many a knocking of the proverbial boots. And not the ROIO kind recorded to cassette, either.

He began in the 1960s jamming with future Mahavishnoid Billy Cobham, and first saw wax on those ridiculous 1970/71 Prestige records of the organist Leon Spencer, Jr., where there's no bass player but Idris Muhammad funks the drums so deep you've long since ripped off your shredded clothes and dove (loins first) into the Louisiana Slim swamp anyway.

Look at him on that LP cover, it's as if he's contemplating all the child support he's on the hook for, the judge having decided all the thousands of children created to his music were somehow his responsibility.

Anyway he really blew up the world -- and helped to initiate what became, unfortunately, the Smooth Jazz genre -- when he subbed for Hank Crawford on a 1972 date and ended up with a monster hit album of his own.

All it seemed to take was the one (OK, it's really good) cover of that Marvin Gaye song and all of the sudden he was everywhere, becoming a flagship artist on Creed Taylor's CTI label offshoot Kudu and selling zillions.

Then, as the 1970s ended, he moved to Elektra and teamed with Bill Withers for what might be termed his signature tune, Just the Two of Us. Again, a song so romantically timeless and sonically potent, you likely just bought a coffee from -- or had your teeth done by -- someone conceived to it.

I mean, if they paint building sized murals of you, you probably did OK in life. Unless you're a despot dictator, but those are usually on all the buildings while you're still alive, and then removed after they hang you from a post upside down in the Piazza, you know? There are, often than not, no saxophones involved or depicted either.

So to make a long story less long, Grover Washington, Jr. -- born this day in 1943 -- was a leading artist and the arguable originator of what came to be termed Smooth Jazz throughout the Seventies through 1999, when he suffered a massive coronary after a TV taping for a morning show and passed away, just days past his 56th birthday.

Which, if you've ever watched daytime TV in the US, is not surprising, as it's horrifying imbecilic enough to give anyone a heart attack. Maybe it was instant Karma for promoting Kenny G, who knows?

At any rate, we were referring to knocking boots earlier, but no one can knock this sizzling 1981 set I boosted off of Bill's Beautiful Boots here and goosed up/unflattened a bit. Watch out for the recently departed bass lord Anthony Jackson laying it down thick on this one... we'll be back to St. Anthony when St. Nicholas makes his appearance later on in the month, so consider this a preview.

 Grover Washington, Jr.

Shubert Theater

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

6.27.1981

01 introduction

02 Winelight

03 band introductions/Let It Flow (For Dr. J)

04 Reaching Out

05 Jammin'

06 Make Me a Memory (Sad Samba)

07 GW intro

08 Number 5 (On the Dark Side)

09 Just the Two of Us

10 Little Black Samba

11 Mr. Magic

Total time: 1:22:53

disc break goes after Track 06

Grover Washington Jr. - saxophones

Eric Gale - guitar 

Anthony Jackson - bass 

Paul Griffin - keyboards & synthesizer 

Richard Tee - keyboards 

Steve Gadd - drums 

Ralph McDonald - percussion

Zack Sanders - vocals on "Just The Two Of Us"

256/48k audio streamed from Wolfgang's Vault

spectral analysis is lossless up to 16 kHz

converted to 16/44 CD Audio, repaired, edited, retracked & remastered by EN, December 2025
513 MB FLAC/direct link

I'mma be right back here tomorrow with my usual party-of-one reservation, this time to salute another recently departed icon of sound with yet another undercirculated gem of a concert performance.

That's in 24 hours, but the next few should be spent with the Winelight on, grooving to Grover on what would have been his 82nd b'day. If you're really kicking off the weekend properly, you're not flying solo in a party of one, or wearing much (if anything) in the way of clothes either...-J.

12.12.1943 - 12.17.1999