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A
Q -and- A
WITH JAZZ LEGEND
TOM GRANT
By R.J. MARX
FOR COAST WEEKEND
IF YOU GO
Tom Grant & Shelly Rudolph
Tom Grant
Jazz musician
Tom Grant.
P
ianist Tom Grant is a longtime
leader on the Portland music
scene, an award-winning jazz
and New Age music star with an
international audience.
After graduating from the Uni-
versity of Oregon, he traveled to
New York City in 1970 with Native
American saxophonist Jim Pep-
per. This led to Grant touring and
recording with jazz greats Woody
Shaw, Charles Lloyd and Tony Wil-
liams before launching into his own
decades-long experience as band
leader, recording artist and mentor.
Guitarist John Orr and I will
be opening for Grant’s upcom-
ing performance with singer Shelly
Rudolph at the Astoria Golf and
Country Club on Feb. 2. In the run
up to our show, I caught up with
Grant at Bill’s Tavern in Cannon
Beach.
R.J. Marx: Tell me about grow-
ing up in Portland.
Tom Grant: I was born in 1946.
When: Saturday, Feb. 2
5:30 p.m. Doors
6 p.m. Opening show with saxophonist
R.J. Marx and guitarist John Orr
7:30 p.m. Main event
Where: Astoria Golf and Country Club
For tickets and more info, visit
astoriagolf.com
My dad’s name was Al Grant — his
original name was Abraham Gold-
baum. He was a drummer and tap
dancer in vaudeville. I started on
drums and tap-danced a little myself
when I was 4 or 5.
My older brother Michael turned
me on to all the hip s**t, like Miles,
Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Horace
Silver, so I listened to all that stuff,
too. We both took lessons from the
same person, Gene Confer. He was
See GRANT, Page 7
I was very much infl uenced by the Tony Williams
Experience. He could rock with the best of them.
Everything was possible and nothing was impossible.
Tom Grant