Frank Gant

01 / The Detroit story

The Detroit story

Frank Gant learned his craft in Detroit's clubs. His first jobs were with saxophonists Billy Mitchell and Pepper Adams, and with Little John Wilson and his Merry Men at the Madison Ballroom he spent four days backing Billie Holiday. He then joined pianist Alvin Jackson's house band at the Blue Bird Inn, and later, as house drummer at Club 12 with Jackson's band, accompanied Thelonious Monk and Charlie Rouse in September 1959. In the late 1950s he recorded with Donald Byrd, Sonny Stitt and Barry Harris and, above all, with Yusef Lateef, on albums including Lateef at Cranbrook (1958), The Dreamer and The Fabric of Jazz. After working with Red Garland, he joined Ahmad Jamal's trio in 1966 and stayed ten years, playing on albums such as The Awakening. In the 1970s he and bassist Jamil Nasser formed the rhythm section for Cobi Narita's jazz workshops in New York, and he continued to record into the 1980s. He died in the Bronx in 2021.

Highlights

1. Backed Billie Holiday at Detroit's Madison Ballroom
2. Drummer in Alvin Jackson's Blue Bird Inn house band
3. Backed Thelonious Monk at Detroit's Club 12 (1959)
4. Recorded Lateef at Cranbrook (1958) and other albums with Yusef Lateef
5. Member of Ahmad Jamal's trio, 1966–1976