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Wardell Gray Memorial, Vol. 2 is a compilation album featuring recordings by the influential jazz tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray from 1950 to 1952, showcasing his work with other major bop and cool-jazz figures. The album includes both studio sessions and extended live jam sessions.
Album Details and Review.
Originally released in 1955 on Prestige Records, the album compiles material that was initially released on 78s and 45s. It is highly regarded for documenting the “young genius” of Gray during the bebop era.
Musical Style and Content: The album captures Gray’s fluent invention on blues changes and includes memorable originals like “Farmer’s Market” (by Art Farmer) and “Jackie” (by Hampton Hawes), as well as Gray’s own “Grayhound” and “Treadin'”. The final tracks feature extended live versions of the bop anthems “Scrapple from the Apple” and “Move,” which provide “fine samples of the heat of bop at its most combustible”.
Key Personnel: Wardell Gray is featured alongside other notable musicians including fellow tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon (on the track “Move”), trumpeters Art Farmer and Clark Terry, alto saxophonist Sonny Criss, and pianist Hampton Hawes.
Reception: Reviewers praise the album as an essential document of Gray’s significant impact on the West Coast bop and cool-jazz scenes. The inclusion of numerous alternate takes is noted as a highlight for demonstrating Gray’s improvisational creativity.

Personnel:

Alto Saxophone – Sonny Criss (tracks: 17, 18)
Bass – Billy Hadnott (tracks: 17, 18), Harper Cosby (tracks: 11 to 16), John Richardson (tracks: 1 to 10)
Congas – Robert Collier (tracks: 11 to 14)
Drums – Art Mardigan (tracks: 1 to 10), Chuck Thompson (tracks: 17, 18), Larry Marable* (tracks: 11 to 16)
Piano – Hampton Hawes (tracks: 11 to 16), Jimmy Bunn (tracks: 17, 18), Phil Hill (tracks: 1 to 10)
Tenor Saxophone – Dexter Gordon (tracks: 18), Wardell Gray
Trumpet – Art Farmer (tracks: 11 to 14, 16), Clark Terry (tracks: 17, 18)

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Label: Original Jazz Classics – OJCCD-051-2, Prestige – P-7009
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered
Country: US
Released: 1994