Grover Washington, Jr., was born on this day in 1943 and died on December 17, 1999. He was a tenor, alto and soprano saxophonist who had huge success as a popular artist, in great part because his 1974 album Mister Magic was high on the pop, soul and R&B charts for weeks. He followed with additional best-selling albums and singles. Predictably, his ability as a hit-maker had critics reaching for their sharp knives, but far from being a sellout, Washington was a superbly inventive jazz soloist whose rhythm and blues roots strengthened his improvisations. His posthumously released Aria, with its variations on opera music and superb arrangements by Bob Freedman, was one of the best albums of 2000.

Here are Washington and his band before a Philadelphia audience in 1981, playing ��Mister Magic.�� In addition to his own work, this is notable for a gritty guitar solo by Washington��s omnipresent sidekick