Grachan Moncur III started studies on cello before switching to trombone at age 11. After high school he performed with Art Blakey and Jackie McLean, with whom he would record a number of classic albums for the Blue Note label in the 1960s. Moncur's career was notable for being one of the first trombonists to embrace the avant-garde movement, recording with such masters of the idiom as Archie Shepp, Marion Brown and Beaver Harris.