Don Grusin


Donald Henri Grusin is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer. He is the younger brother of Dave Grusin.

Career

Don Grusin grew up in Littleton, Colorado. His father, a native of Latvia, was a classical violinist. His brother, Dave Grusin, is a pianist, record producer, and co-founder of GRP Records.
Grusin graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's degree in economics. In the early 1970s, he was an economics professor in Guadalajara, Mexico. Soon after, he taught economics at Foothill College in California.
Grusin performed in Bogota, Colombia, as a member of Azteca, a Latin jazz fusion band led by Pete Escovedo that included Escovedo's daughter, drummer Sheila E. The trip sparked a lifelong interest in Latin music. In 1975, Quincy Jones invited him to tour with his band, and Grusin was persuaded to leave teaching for a career in music. He worked as a studio musician on albums by Randy Crawford, Billy Eckstine, Joe Pass, and the Pointer Sisters. He formed the fusion group Friendship with Lee Ritenour, Ernie Watts, and Alex Acuña and recorded one album, then released solo albums in 1981 and 1983. In 1985, he produced the album Musician for Ernie Watts, and it won a Grammy Award. Grusin's live album The Hang received a Grammy Award nomination, and he won Grammy Awards for his work on two albums by the Paul Winter Consort. He won an Echo Award for the album Quality Time, recorded with Peter Fessler.
As a record producer or keyboardist, Grusin has worked with Gerald Albright, Patti Austin, David Benoit, Larry Carlton, Oscar Castro-Neves, Dori Caymmi, Gilberto Gil, Jim Hall, Sérgio Mendes, Airto Moreira, Milton Nascimento, Flora Purim, Nelson Rangell, Brenda Russell, Zoot Sims, Leon Ware, and Sadao Watanabe.

Discography

As leader

  • 10k–LA
  • Don Grusin
  • Sticks and Stones
  • Raven
  • Zephyr
  • No Borders
  • Native Land
  • Banana Fish
  • Laguna Cove
  • Traveling Fancy
  • The Hang
  • Better Than Christmas with Natali Rene
  • Old Friends and Relatives
  • Geography with Bill Sharpe
  • Piano in Venice
  • One Night Only with Dave Grusin
  • Trans Atlántica with Bill Sharpe
  • Quality Time with Peter Fessler
  • Out of Thin Air
  • ''Old Times''

    As sideman

With Ernie Watts
  • Musician
  • Sanctuary
With Oscar Castro-Neves
  • Maracuja
  • Tropical Heart
  • All One
With Dori Caymmi
  • Dori Caymmi
  • Brazilian Serenata
  • Kicking Cans
With Ricardo Silveira
  • Sky Light
  • Amazon Secrets
With Sadao Watanabe
  • Maisha
  • Sweet Deal
With Eric Marienthal
  • Round Trip
  • Easy Street
With Tom Browne
  • Browne Sugar
  • Funkin' for Jamaica
With Lorraine Feather
  • The Body Remembers
  • Cafe Society
With Shakatak
  • Full Circle
  • Across the World
With others