Grant Reeves

How It All Started
 

Starting piano at age 5, I reluctantly practiced for 2 years. Early on my piano teacher went to my mom and said “I don’t know what’s wrong with Grant." My mom said “What’s the problem?”, to which my piano teacher replied “Oh, I think I know. Is Grant left-handed?” My teacher told my mom I was playing the treble clef with my left hand, and the bass clef with my right hand. As most musicians know, this is problematic because it's supposed to be the other way around. In life, however, sometimes things that don't go according to plan lead to new insights and expanded learning. My piano dyslexia now helps me build harmony from the bottom of the piano, which expands the harmonic content into extended harmony. It’s wonderful being slightly odd. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

At age 10, my parents asked me what instrument I wanted to play. I said the saxophone, although I thought the name for trombone was saxophone. My parents come home with this case, and when I looked inside it wasn’t a trombone …It was an alto saxophone. I knew my parents went to a lot of trouble to get this instrument for me, and the saxophone DID look really cool …so I just went with it. I loved to practice my craft and, with 2 musical older brothers, I got a lot of playing time in. 

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A Moment of Clarity

 

About a year later I had an epiphany. I looked at the piano that was in my living room and saw it with new eyes. That piano has been in my family for over 100 years. Suddenly I realized everything I might want to create and hear was right there on those 88 keys. That realization felt like a lightening strike. That was the day I became a composer. I knew from that moment forward that I would pursue music as my life's work. I’ve been writing music ever since. 

 

I continued to grow as an artist throughout junior high and high school, playing recital pieces and winning awards. I continued to compose, writing original pieces for Jazz Band, Small Chamber groups, Orchestra & Pep Band. 

The Path Opens
 

My first professional gig occurred when I was 15 years old. I attended college 2 years later, working on composition and other aspects of music and graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Music just spoke to me, so it never felt like studying; it was more like breathing. 

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After college I explored the United States, playing in numerous bands, including a few with my brothers Wade and Ken. I began touring in an opening act for Jazz artists including Bob James, Jon Luc Ponty, the Jazz Crusaders, and many more. By age 21, I was the first call for all the major recording studios in Seattle, and did that work for 10 years. By 24, I had produced original music for commercials, advertisements, corporate film projects, and many other projects. I continue to perform as a session musician to this day. 

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At age 30 I moved to San Jose, California and formed an award-winning music scoring and audio post business. Original work included scores for multinational technology companies, the Unites States government, computer animation companies, public broadcasting companies, and competitive Olympic athletic teams, to name a few. Ten years later I moved to Fair Oaks, California to pursue my passion teaching music theory, jazz improvisation for flute, saxophone, and piano, and producing various artists. 

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My musical focus over the past 20 years has been writing original 20th century and atonal compositions and well as compositions for my Contemporary Jazz Ensemble. My current goal is to do a world tour playing this original classical and contemporary work.

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A Relentless Pursuit

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Music is more than a pursuit for me; it is my life-essence, my passion, my soul. Music is how I see and interact with the world and contribute to the people who share this planet. Music is the ultimate expression of human possibility, creativity, and beauty.