Jerry Granelli

Drummer Jerry Granelli was born in San Francisco and first got noticed as a musician while drumming in Vince Guaraldi's and Denny Zeitlin's trios. By the early '60s, he was playing free jazz as well. Inspired by Tibetan Buddhism, Granelli moved to Boulder, CO, in 1976 to start a music department at Naropa Institute, where he was co-director until 1980 when he went to teach at a Seattle college. In the early '80s, Granelli played in a trio with Ralph Towner and Gary Peacock after which he began recording as a leader, first for the label ITM, and then for Intuition. By 1987, he was directing the Jazz and Popular Music Department at a Canadian conservatory. The late '90s found Granelli continuing in the teaching tradition as a professor in Berlin.