Drummer Grady Tate (1932-2017) is another significant part of the early CTI sound. His very distinctive rhythm-a-ning is a model of compelling restraint and utterly recognizable within only a few short bars. If the drummer is a musical unit’s motor, Grady Tate is the quietest of powerful engines and the most elegant of rhythm machines.
Leaving his North Carolina home in 1963 for New York City, Tate settled into the drummer’s chair of Quincy Jones’ band – recording several of the band leader’s Mercury albums at the time. Soon, thereafter, Tate was gigging in many combos, and picking up lots of studio calls, too.
In 1964, Tate hooked up with Hammond B-3 organist Jimmy Smith on the Creed Taylor-produced Christmas ’64 (a.k.a. Christmas Cookin’). Tate was featured on many of the organist’s Verve records during this period. Taylor also tapped Tate as the drummer for Wes Montgomery’s 1964 Verve debut, Movin’ Wes; so intuitive was this pairing that Tate continued to participate on each of Montgomery’s remaining studio albums.
Tate added his characteristic sophistication to Taylor-produced Verve albums by Lalo Schifrin (Tate reunited with Schifrin years later for the “Jazz Meets the Symphony” series), Donald Byrd, Cal Tjader, Johnny Hodges, Kenny Burrell and others.
Creed Taylor eventually recruited Grady Tate to perform on ten of the A&M/CTI titles, representing about a third of the label’s output: the three Wes Montgomery albums, the two Quincy Jones albums, as well as Glory of Love, Trust in Me, Israel, You, Baby and Stonebone.
At the same time, Grady Tate was the in-house drummer for the Skye Recordings label, a briefly significant label launched in 1968 by Gary McFarland, Gabor Szabo and Cal Tjader – all of whom worked for Creed Taylor at one point or another. It was Skye that allowed Tate to launch his career as a fine, soulful crooner of standards and contemporary fare.