Grachan Moncur III

Grachan Moncur III (June 3, 1937 – June 3, 2022) was an American jazz trombonist and Broadway performer born in New York City, where his paternal grandfather had roots in the Bahamas. He was the son of jazz bassist Grachan Moncur II and the nephew of jazz saxophonist Al Cooper. Raised in Newark, New Jersey, Moncur began his musical education on the cello at age nine before transitioning to the trombone at eleven. His secondary schooling took place at the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina, the same private school where Dizzy Gillespie had once studied. While still a student there, he began sitting in with touring jazz musicians passing through town, among them Art Blakey and Jackie McLean, with whom he developed a friendship that would last throughout his career.

Following high school, Moncur built his professional foundation through a series of significant touring engagements. He traveled with Ray Charles from 1959 to 1962, then joined Art Farmer and Benny Golson's Jazztet in 1962, and also toured with Sonny Rollins. His association with Jackie McLean produced two Blue Note albums in 1963, One Step Beyond and Destination... Out!, the latter featuring compositions largely written by Moncur himself. That same year he recorded his debut album as a leader, Evolution, for Blue Note, with McLean and Lee Morgan among the participants. A second leader date, Some Other Stuff, followed in 1964, featuring Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.

Also in 1964, Moncur appeared on Broadway in Blues for Mister Charlie, adding a stage credit to his already active career as a recording and performing musician. His work in the avant-garde continued through his association with Archie Shepp's ensemble and collaborations with players including Marion Brown, Beaver Harris, and Roswell Rudd. During the summer of 1969, while in Paris, he recorded two albums as a leader for the BYG Actuel label, New Africa and Aco Dei de Madrugada, and contributed as a sideman to additional releases on the same label.

In 1974, the Jazz Composer's Orchestra commissioned Moncur to compose Echoes of Prayer, a jazz symphony scored for full orchestra, vocalists, and jazz soloists. His sixth album as a leader, Shadows, was recorded in 1977 and released exclusively in Japan. Health problems and copyright disputes limited his recording activity in the years that followed. Through the 1980s he recorded with Cassandra Wilson in 1985, appeared on Big John Patton's Soul Connection in 1983, played periodically with the Paris Reunion Band and Frank Lowe, and directed much of his energy toward teaching. He returned to recording in 2004 with Exploration on Capri Records, an album of his own compositions arranged by Mark Masters for an octet that included Tim Hagans and Gary Bartz. Moncur died of cardiac arrest on June 3, 2022, his 85th birthday, at his home in Newark, New Jersey.