I met Grover at a club in Atlantic City when he was still in his late teens and virtually unknown except by Black musicians in the Philadelphia area, a very tight-knit group where sooner or later, everybody worked with everybody. Atlantic City (my birth city) was mostly summer gigs but Philly was blessed with some of the more memorable jazz clubs such as Peps and Showboat (I'm guessing Fran and DNJ probably remember them even if they never went in - this WAS Philly in the late 60's and 70's). This was the time when the Organ trio (sometimes with added horn or vocalist) was king. At that time there was only one "superstar" among the organ players and that was Jimmy Smith. He was the acknowledged "King" and everybody else was just the organ player down the street.

Grover was an intellectual and was very interested in education and young people. I'm sure most people know that he earned a doctorate degree in music (in the mold of Dr. Billy Taylor and other jazz greats). Even after his commercial success, you could drive by his house up in Mt. Airy and see him mowing his own lawn. That's humility, certainly more than I have. Sorry for wandering off; just gives you a warm feeling thinking about the "good ol' days". Probably just another expression of wanting to relive our youth. Ain't gonna happen.

BTW, one of the great local "fatback" organist during that time was "Papa John" Defrancesco, father of Joey D. He could groove with the best of them and a very nice guy to boot. Far as I know, he is still out there gigging (I saw him about 6 years ago doing a gig with one of his sons, a guitarist). Fran might know.

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