Editing Wardell Gray (section)

===With the Earl Hines Orchestra===
Near the Congo Club was the Three Sixes.<ref>Owens, Keith A. [http://www2.metrotimes.com/20/43/Gallery/storyHastingsStreet.htm "Hastings Street breakdown: The history of Detroit blues from Black Bottom to Belle Isle."] ''www2.metrotimes.com'', July 25, 2000. Retrieved January 30, 2014.</ref> A young dancer, Jeri Walker, knew [[Earl Hines]], and when the Hines band came through Detroit in late 1943, she persuaded Hines to hire Gray on alto saxophone since there was no tenor saxophone job at the time. This was a break for the 21-year-old, as the Earl Hines Orchestra was not only nationally known but had nurtured the careers of emerging bebop musicians such as [[Dizzy Gillespie]] and [[Charlie Parker]]. Although most of them had left when Gray joined, playing with the Hines band was a stimulating experience. He married Jeri Walker in Chicago in September 1945.