Editing Wardell Gray (section)

===Benny Goodman and Count Basie===
Outside from time spent with a small band led by [[Al Killian]], Wardell was still working mainly in one-off sessions during 1947. However, at a concert around the turn of that year featuring [[Benny Goodman]], Goodman hired him for a small group that he was setting up as part of his flirtation with bebop. Goodman had been critical of bop playing but, speaking of Wardell to [[Metronome (magazine)|''Metronome'']], he said that "if he's bop, that's great. He's wonderful!"

Goodman's new group included the young Swedish clarinettist [[Stan Hasselgard]] and, initially, [[Teddy Wilson]], and it opened at [[Frank Palumbo]]'s [[Palumbos|Click Club]] in Philadelphia in May 1948.

The group was not a financial success and Goodman eventually broke it up, but by now Wardell was established on the East Coast as an up-and-coming musician. For a while in late 1948/early 1949 he worked with the [[Count Basie Orchestra]], while also managing to record with [[Tadd Dameron]]  and in quartet and quintet sessions with [[Al Haig]]. The quartet session included "Twisted", which was used as the basis for a best-selling [[Twisted (Annie Ross song)|vocalese version]] by [[Annie Ross]].

Wardell left Basie in 1949 to return to Benny Goodman. However, life in the Goodman band became increasingly uncongenial for him. In addition, his marriage to Jeri was breaking up. Goodman was not an easy employer at the best of times, and this, combined with the constant traveling, made Wardell increasingly unhappy. The result of this were recordings of the band, both studio sessions, and live airshots, featured work by Wardell that is below his own best standards.

On leaving Goodman, Wardell rejoined Count Basie. Basie had bowed to economic pressures and broken up his big band, forming a septet which included [[Clark Terry]] and [[Buddy DeFranco]]. Wardell was part of the Basie septet during 1950–51.<ref name="Bebop" /> The only drawback to working with Basie (who had by now enlarged his group again to big band size) was the constant traveling, and Wardell eventually decided to leave so that he could enjoy more home life. The decision was entirely understandable, though the Basie rhythm section was ideally suited to Wardell's brand of swing and, from a musical point of view, enthusiasts for his playing may regret his decision. And an unexpected side-effect was that, because work in the LA area was short (for black musicians, anyway) Wardell still had to travel frequently in search of jobs. Nevertheless, life at home was good, and one of the few interviews that he ever gave (to the British ''[[Melody Maker]]'') showed that he was very happy.

In 1950, Gray played a live concert at the San Francisco Veteran's Memorial Hall as a guest with Gerald Wilson's band.  Remarkably captured in high fidelity stereo (the only such example in his discography), this recording was released for the first time in 2006 . Gray can be heard in fine form during featured solo spots with small combo backup on "[[Nice Work If You Can Get It (song)|Nice Work if You Can Get It]]" and "[[(Back Home Again in) Indiana|Indiana]]" and also with Wilson's big band on the blues "Hollywood Freeway" where Gray trades exciting choruses with [[Zoot Sims]] and [[Stan Getz]].