Grover Washington Jr - Dawn Song LP Version Elektra Records 1984

Grover Washington Jr December 12 1943 -- December 17 1999 was an American jazz-funk soul-jazz saxophonist Along with George Benson John Klemmer David Sanborn Bob James Chuck Mangione Herb Alpert and Spyro Gyra he is considered by many to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre citation needed He wrote some of his material and later became an arranger and producer Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Washington made some of the genre's most memorable hits including Mister Magic Reed Seed Black Frost Winelight Inner City Blues and The Best is Yet to Come In addition he performed very frequently with other artists including Bill Withers on Just the Two of Us still in regular rotation on radio today Patti LaBelle on The Best Is Yet to Come and Phyllis Hyman on A Sacred Kind of Love He is also remembered for his take on the Dave Brubeck classic Take Five and for his 1996 version of Soulful Strut Washington had a preference for black nickel-plated saxophones made by Julius Keilwerth These included a SX90R alto and SX90R tenor He also played Selmer Mark VI alto in the early years His main soprano was a black nickel plated H Couf Superba II also built by Keilwerth for Herbert Couf and a Keilwerth SX90 in the last years of his life On December 17 1999 five days after his 56th birthday Washington collapsed while waiting in the green room after performing four songs for The Saturday Early Show at CBS Studios in New York City He was taken to St Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 7 30 pm His doctors determined that he had suffered a massive heart attack He is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery

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