Grant Green Talkin' About

Grant Green - Talkin' About (1964) {Japan Mini LP TOCJ-9502 24bit by RVG rel 2003}
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© 1964, 2003 Blue Note / Toshiba-EMI | TOCJ-9502 | 24bit by RVG | Cardboard sleeve (mini LP)
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Hard Bop / Guitar / Organ

On the heels of Matador and Solid, two of his most advanced albums, Grant Green decided to continue the more modal direction he'd begun pursuing with the help of members of Coltrane's quartet. Accordingly, he hooked up with organist Larry Young, who was just beginning to come into his own as the first Hammond B-3 player to incorporate Coltrane's modal innovations into his own style. Talkin' About is the first of three albums the Green/Young team recorded together with Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones, and it's exceptional, one of the most underrated items in Green's discography.

Following the 1993 hit "Tukka Yoot's Riddim" by US3, which featured a sample from his 1971 track "Sookie Sookie", Grant Green has been enjoying a revival of popularity. Blue Note records released this compilation of the guitarist to catch the interest. So of course "Sookie Sookie" is here in it's original 11-minute three-second glory. As are other funk faves "Talkin' About JC" and "Windjammer", which amply show why Green is such an influence on acid jazz. Certainly on this Best of Blue Note have picked the more groove-based numbers from his 1964-72 work with the label. Street Funk is a fun package, ideal for summer evenings. It's perfect for those not familiar with his playing apart maybe from the odd sampled riff, or those who have heard the respect paid to him by contemporary jazz musicians…

Grant Green - Street Of Dreams (1964) {2009 Rudy Van Gelder Remaster}
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© 2009 EMI / Blue Note | 50999 2 65142 2 2
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop

Grant Green's 1964 STREET OF DREAMS date with organ guru Larry Young is an entirely different affair than TALKIN' ABOUT, the session the pair recorded earlier that year. It features four lengthy meditations that find Green and Young (not to mention vibraphone viscount Bobby Hutcherson) unfurling thoughtful, low-key riffs that establish an autumnal, introspective feel, as opposed to the more hard-bop-tinged tracks on the previous album. Green may be known as a master of soul jazz, but STREET OF DREAMS proves he's got plenty more strings to his bow, and sounds oddly contemporary, as though it could have been released on a label like ECM some 20 years later.

Grant Green & Donald Byrd - His Majesty King Funk & Up With Donald Byrd (1995) {Verve 559 621-2 rec 1964-1965}
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© 1964-65, 1995 Verve / PolyGram | 559 621-2 | Jazz: The Verve Collection Series
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Guitar / Trumpet

2 of the grooviest Verve 60s jazz funk sessions on one CD! Grant Green's His Majesty King Funk is a tight quintet session with Larry Young on organ and Harold Vick on tenor, and it grooves with a tightness that matches Green's best Blue Note sessions. The album is reissued here with the tracks in their full versions, and titles include "The Selma March", "Daddy Grapes", and "The Cantaloupe Woman". The record is paired with Donald Byrd's groovy Up album, a record that has his funky trumpet playing with a larger group arranged by Herbie Hancock, that also features some added vocal backing at times. The record has a very tasty version of "Cantaloupe Island", plus the cuts "Blind Man, Blind Man", "Bossa", and "Boom, Boom". Nice groovy 60's material, with 14 cuts in all!

Grant Green - Retrospective 1961-1966 (2002) {4CD Set Blue Note}
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© 1961-66, 2002 Blue Note / Capitol | 7243 5 40851 2 3 | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Hard Bop / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Guitar

Simply put, this is a very decent four-disc collection of the work of guitarist Grant Green. It features tracks from his many albums as a leader and some as a sideman with others, such as Lee Morgan, John Patton, Baby Face Willette, and Sonny Clark. His early-'60s sides are here along with most of his defining cuts from the '60s, from hard bop to soul-jazz to ballads to gospel – everything most fans would ever want is here, including his late blues sides recorded in the bars of Detroit in 1970. While Green's own albums can never be replaced, this is a solid portrait of one of the most influential jazz guitarists in history.

Grant Green's second session with organist Larry Young, Street of Dreams brings back drummer Elvin Jones and adds Bobby Hutcherson on vibes for a mellow, dreamy album that lives up to its title. There are only four selections, all standards and all around eight to ten minutes long, and the musicians approach them as extended mood pieces, creating a marvelously light, cool atmosphere that's maintained throughout the record. Hutcherson is the perfect addition for this project, able to blend in with the modal advancement of the rest of the ensemble while adding his clear, shimmering tone to the overall texture of the album. All the musicians play with a delicate touch that's quite distinct from the modal soul-jazz on Talkin' About; it's not so much romantic as thoughtful and introspective, floating along as if buoyed by clouds…

Larry Young - The Complete Blue Note Recordings Of Larry Young (1964-69) [6CD BoxSet] {1991 Mosaic Remaster}
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© 1964-69, 1991 Mosaic Records / Blue Note | MD6-137
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Hard Bop / Hammond B-3

Larry Young, one of the most significant jazz organists to emerge after the rise of Jimmy Smith, is heard on this limited-edition six-CD set at the peak of his creativity. Formerly available as nine LPs, the set includes the original Larry Young albums Into Somethin', Unity, Of Love and Peace, Contrasts, Heaven on Earth, and Mother Ship, while drawing from the compilations 40 Years of Jazz, The History of Blue Note (Dutch), The World of Jazz Organ (Japanese), and The Blue Note 50th Anniversary Collection Volume Two: The Jazz Message, and also including guitarist Grant Green's Talkin' About, Street of Dreams, and I Want to Hold Your Hand.

Larry Young, one of the most significant jazz organists to emerge after the rise of Jimmy Smith, is heard on this limited-edition six-CD set at the peak of his creativity. Formerly available as nine LPs, the set includes the original Larry Young albums Into Somethin', Unity, Of Love and Peace, Contrasts, Heaven on Earth, and Mother Ship, while drawing from the compilations 40 Years of Jazz, The History of Blue Note (Dutch), The World of Jazz Organ (Japanese), and The Blue Note 50th Anniversary Collection Volume Two: The Jazz Message, and also including guitarist Grant Green's Talkin' About, Street of Dreams, and I Want to Hold Your Hand. Young was still very much under Smith's influence on the first four sessions released as Talkin' About, Into Somethin', Street of Dreams, and I Want to Hold Your Hand (all featuring a trio with Green and drummer Elvin Jones plus guests Sam Rivers or Hank Mobley on tenor and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson).