Larry Grenadier

Larry Grenadier is a double bassist, composer, co-leader, recording artist, and educator whose long-term groups include the Brad Mehldau Trio and Fly.

Double bassComposerCo-leaderEducator5 current shows

Photo source · Photo: Juan Hitters, via ECM Records

Career Overview

About Larry Grenadier

Grenadier's official biography traces his San Francisco musical upbringing, early Bay Area professional work, Stanford years, and moves to Boston and New York. It documents formative work with Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, Gary Burton, and Betty Carter without treating every sideman date as a permanent group.[1]

ECM and the artist biography identify three durable branches of his catalog: the Brad Mehldau Trio, the cooperative trio Fly with Mark Turner and Jeff Ballard, and The Gleaners, his first solo-bass album. His faculty profile also documents bass teaching at the Basel Academy of Music.[1][2][3]

Ensembles and Career Threads

Bands & Projects

Double bassist and long-term trio member

Brad Mehldau Trio

Grenadier's biography follows the trio from its 1990s recordings with Jorge Rossy through the later edition with Jeff Ballard.[1][2]

Co-leader, double bassist, and composer

Fly

Fly is the democratic trio formed with Mark Turner and Jeff Ballard and documented on three albums, including two for ECM.[1][2]

Solo bassist and composer

The Gleaners

Grenadier's first recording entirely under his own name explores pizzicato, bowing, alternate tunings, originals, and selected compositions for solo double bass.[1][6]

Selected, Not Exhaustive

Recordings to Know

2009 · ECM Records

Sky & Country

Fly co-leader, double bassist, and composer

Fly's first ECM album documents Grenadier's collective work with Turner and Ballard in the chordless trio.[2][4]

Release details

2012 · ECM Records

Year of the Snake

Fly co-leader, double bassist, and composer

The second Fly album for ECM continues the group's jointly composed saxophone-bass-drums language.[2][5]

Release details

2019 · ECM Records

The Gleaners

Solo double bassist and composer

The solo album combines seven Grenadier originals with pieces by Gershwin, Coltrane, Motian, Muthspiel, and Rebecca Martin.[1][6]

Release details

Artist-Authorized Destinations

Start Listening

ECM artist catalog

Hear label-authorized samples from The Gleaners, Fly, and Grenadier's ECM sideman recordings.

Official print and video archive

Explore performances, interviews, and project material selected on Grenadier's artist site.

Live Calendar