Gigi Gryce (born George General Grice Jr.; November 28, 1925 – March 14, 1983), later Basheer Qusim, was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator.

While his performing career was relatively short, much of his work as a player, composer, and arranger was quite influential and well-recognized during his time. However, Gryce abruptly ended his jazz career in the 1960s. This, in addition to his nature as a very private person, has resulted in very little knowledge of Gryce today. Several of his compositions have been covered extensively (“Minority“, “Social Call”, “Nica’s Tempo”) and have become minor jazz standards. Gryce’s compositional bent includes harmonic choices similar to those of contemporaries Benny Golson, Tadd Dameron and Horace Silver. Gryce’s playing, arranging, and composing are most associated with the classic hard bop era (roughly 1953–1965). He was a well-educated composer and musician, and wrote some classical works as a student at the Boston Conservatory. As a jazz musician and composer he was very much influenced by the work of Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk.

George General Grice Jr. was born in Pensacola, Florida on November 28, 1925.

After graduating with a degree in composition in 1952, Gryce relocated to New York City, where he would enjoy much success in the mid fifties. In 1953 Max Roach recorded one of Gryce’s charts with his septet, and soon after Gryce recorded with Howard McGhee and wrote for Horace Silver‘s sextet as well.

Gryce was influenced by Tadd Dameron, with whom he played in 1953 at the Paradise Club. Gryce had not yet reached his peak as a musician or soloist, but was developing a reputation as a versatile and talented composer and arranger. Later in 1953 Gryce also contributed a tune, “Up in Quincy’s Place” to Art Farmer‘s Prestige recordings. While this recording was rather inconsequential, Farmer would become one of Gryce’s closest colleagues.

One of the most important connections Gryce made in New York was with Quincy Jones, who encouraged Lionel Hampton to hire Gryce for his band in the summer of 1953. After playing with Hampton’s band in the States, Gryce was invited to join the band for their European tour.

While the style of the Hampton band was outdated and overly commercialized in Gryce’s eyes, the opportunities and connections made on the European tour were largely what propelled Gryce into success as an artist. In Hampton’s band, Gryce played with Anthony Ortega, Clifford Solomon (tenor saxophone), Clifford Scott, Oscar Estelle (baritone saxophone), Walter Williams (trumpet), Art Farmer, Clifford Brown, Quincy Jones, Al Hayse, Jimmy Cleveland, George “Buster” Cooper, William “Monk” Montgomery, and Alan Dawson. Gryce became particularly close friends with Clifford Brown, with whom he found much in common. The Hampton tour did not pay well, and Gryce and others frequently sought recording opportunities on the side, particularly in Stockholm and Paris, where Europeans were eager to record touring Americans. There was already some tension in the band between young bebop-influenced musicians and the more established swing musicians (including Hampton himself), and Hampton did not react well when he heard his musicians were recording on the side.

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. Notable of these European recordings were “Paris the Beautiful”, featuring tonal centers a third apart and a Parker-influenced solo by Gryce; “Brown Skins”, a concerto for a large jazz ensemble; “Blue Concept”, recorded by the Gryce-Brown sextet; and “Strictly Romantic”, which oscillates between A flat and G major. In addition, Henri Renaud recorded an entire album exclusively of Gryce’s work, which did a great deal to build his reputation.