The boxed set, to be released on October 22nd, features Green's music as a leader and sideman from 1961-1966 when he was Blue Note's de facto house guitarist
When jazz guitarist Grant Green died in 1979 at the age of 47, he was prized by jazz aficionados but relatively unknown and under appreciated by much of the jazz world. Like so many musicians who made names for themselves in the '60s, Green was forced to the sidelines early in the next decade as the sound of the idiom shifted from the funky realm into jazz-rock fusion. Over two decades later, Green was re-introduced to the jazz world thanks in large part to the young generation of jazz enthusiasts schooled in hip-hop. The group Us3 liberally sampled his “Sookie Sookie" for “Tukka Yoot's Riddim" on its Blue Note album Hand on the Torch, and A Tribe Called Quest sampled his tune “Down Here on the Ground." Green's raw, down-to-earth licks became so in vogue again that even Madonna used a sample from “Down Here on the Ground" for her tune “Forbidden Love" on the Bedtime Stories album.
Green had a distinctive horn-inspired sound, using a pick to deliver blue-toned single-note lines and, on occasion, beefy riffs that gave his playing groove power. Praised by the All Music Guide to Jazz as “one of the great unsung heroes of jazz guitar," he served two terms of duty with Blue Note (interrupted by a late-'60s hiatus) as both a leader and a sideman. He was the label's de facto house guitarist and one of its most recorded artist in the '60s.
In Blue Note's new 4-CD boxed set, The Grant Green Retrospective, the guitarist's seminal early years are highlighted-from his first recording in January 1961 in support of saxophonist Lou Donaldson (highlighted by Green's buoyant solo on “A Foggy Day" from Here 'Tis) to two tracks from the April 1966 Got a Good Thing Goin' session led by organ ace John Patton (featuring the guitarist's cooking excursion on the hot tune “The Yodel" and his sweetly darting lines on the cooler-but-no-less-groovin' number “Soul Woman").
The newly remastered boxed set, compiled by reissue producer Michael Cuscuna, collects 39 tunes Green recorded as a sideman and leader. (The original sessions were produced by Blue Note co-founder Alfred Lion and recorded by engineer Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.) The Retrospective is divided into three phases of the guitarist's early tenure at the label. Featured on Disc One and Disc Two is Green's blues-infused work with such Hammond B3 organists as Baby Face Willette, Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, John Patton and Larry Young. Highlights include the groove-swinging “Funky Mama" with Patton, Donaldson and trumpeter Tommy Turrentine (Green rings the strings and bounces the beat on his ebullient chorus) and Young's “Talkin' About J.C." with the organist and drummer Elvin Jones (Green soars with an extended smooth-sailing and improvisationally inventive solo).
On Disc Three, Green is showcased in straight-ahead sessions with small groups featuring such noteworthies as saxophonist Sam Rivers, pianists Sonny Clark and Herbie Hancock and drummers Art Blakey and Billy Higgins. Sublime renditions of Thelonious Monk's “'Round Midnight" and Miles Davis' “So What" open the CD and a joyous extended take on “My Favorite Things" with Coltrane in mind (note that McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones go along with Green for the ride) closes the disc. Green also gets into a Latin groove with a peppery rendition of Bird's “My Little Suede Shoes" and a gently swinging take on Consuelo Velazquez's “Besame Mucho." A big bonus is the guitarist's exquisite balladic interpretation of country songwriter Don Gibson's “I Can't Stop Loving You" with Hancock on piano, Reggie Workman on bass and Higgins on drums.
Disc Four features Green's studio performances with the top horn players of the day, including trumpeter Lee Morgan and saxophonists Hank Mobley, Booker Ervin, Stanley Turrentine and Ike Quebec. A highlight of this disc is the upbeat blues “Minor League" with a spirited guitar break recorded at the June 1964 Solid session with Green leading an all-star sextet comprised of tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, alto saxist James Spaulding, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Elvin Jones.
Born in either 1931 (according to most sources) or 1935 (according to his biographer, Sharony Andrews Green), Green came from a long line of guitar players. He got his first guitar when he was quite young and picked up pointers from his father's Charlie Christian and Charlie Parker records. In his early teens, Green quit school and began gigging professionally with gospel groups in the St. Louis area. He was soon a mainstay in jazz, rhythm & blues and blues clubs in the city where he performed with such local vets as tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest and organist Sam Lazar. Green also became acquainted with established touring artists like Harry “Sweets" Edison and John Coltrane.
In the late '50s he was “discovered" by Lou Donaldson who convinced him to relocate to New York City. Upon Green's arrival in late 1960, he was almost immediately given work on a number of Blue Note projects. Not long after, Green was recording his first Blue Note sessions as a leader. In 1961 he tracked his well-received Blue Note debut, Grant's First Stand, featuring organist Jack McDuff. (An earlier recording was not issued by Blue Note until 2001 as First Session.)
Retrospective liner note writer Bob Blumenthal points out, “As the 1960s began, jazz guitar was transformed by three Midwestern giants-Kenny Burrell from Detroit, Wes Montgomery from Indianapolis and Grant Green from St. Louis. All three were deeply steeped in the blues, and all three had experience working or recording with organists; but Green, the last to arrive in New York, was the most overtly soulful and the most intimately identified with the organ-combo sound." Blumenthal also notes that Green was the most horn-like in his improvisational approach, eschewing chords in his solos for fluent single lines inspired by his idols Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. He adds, “Green's linear approach, his intense rhythmic attack and effortless flow of ideas made him the most compelling modern heir of the electric guitar's primary innovator, Charlie Christian."
Retrospective documents the highlights of Grant Green's early years on Blue Note when the St. Louis native burst on the jazz scene. The boxed set resoundingly demonstrates his six-string rhythmic and melodic prowess and affirms his reputation as one of the best and most influential guitarists in modern jazz.
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