Green Is Beautiful

Grant Green - Green Is Beautiful (1970) {Blue Note Japan, Paper Sleeve, TOCJ-9545 rel 2003)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 247 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 90 Mb
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© 1970, 2003 Blue Note / Toshiba-EMI Japan | TOCJ-9545
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Guitar

The second album of Grant Green's thorough jazz-funk makeover, Green Is Beautiful finds the guitarist growing more comfortable with harder, funkier R&B than he seemed on the softer-hued Carryin' On. The switch from Fender Rhodes electric piano back to the more traditional Hammond organ certainly helps give the session a little extra grit, but it doesn't return Green to the land of soul-jazz by any means. Green Is Beautiful is still explicitly commercial and accessible to non-jazz audiences, and (purist objections notwithstanding) that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Blue Breakbeats is an essential collection of six of the funkiest breakbeat heavy songs in Grant Green's deep Blue Note catalog. Prolifically sampled by beat thirsty hip-hop producers and stylistically influential in separating Green from Wes Montgomery's ever-looming shadow, these songs were compiled from Green Is Beautiful, Visions, Alive!, Carryin' On, and The Final Come Down by DJ Smash. While certainly nothing new here for the collector, it's a great starter piece for newcomers and those seeking out the original breaks sampled over and over on late 20th century hip-hop records. Playful grooves and classic drumbeats thump underneath some of the slickest jazz guitar work of the 1970s, while stellar instrumentation alone is worth the price of admission. With it being said that these groundbreaking Blue Note soul/jazz records are the foundation of hip-hop, these cuts are brick-by-brick testimonials.

Al Green was the first great soul singer of the '70s and arguably the last great Southern soul singer. With his seductive singles for Hi Records in the early '70s, Green bridged the gap between deep soul and smooth Philadelphia soul. He incorporated elements of gospel, interjecting his performances with wild moans and wails, but his records were stylish, boasting immaculate productions that rolled along with a tight beat, sexy backing vocals, and lush strings. The distinctive Hi Records sound that the vocalist and producer Willie Mitchell developed made Al Green the most popular and influential soul singer of the early '70s, influencing not only his contemporaries, but also veterans like Marvin Gaye. Green was at the peak of his popularity when he suddenly decided to join the ministry in the mid-'70s…

Al Green's second record for Blue Note reunites the same cast of characters who made his comeback disc, 2003's I Can't Stop, such a success. Willie Mitchell is behind the boards, the cream of old-school Hi musicians is here, and Green hasn't lost a step vocally. In fact, it sounds like he has gained a step somehow; his crazed screams, hollered interjections, and whoops of joy seem more assured and his falsetto is clear and strong. The songs are here, too, with a good mix of uptempo movers (the rollicking "Build Me Up," the high-energy title track, and "Nobody But You") and sweet, string-laden ballads ("Perfect to Me," "Real Love," and "All the Time"). Green sounds on fire most of the time, really letting loose on "Everything's OK," testifying on "Be My Baby," and ripping it up like a kid everywhere else…

Anyone casually searching for guitarist Grant Green's first recordings might easily wind up standing at a discographical crossroads, as three different albums claim to contain his earliest work. Technically speaking, Gambit's 2007 reissue of Grant Green's First Recordings is the definitive article; even if tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest was the leader on these sessions, what you hear are the guitarist's first performances in a recording studio. Recorded in New York City on December 10 and 12, 1959, this music represents Forrest's transition from a decade-long adventure as an R&B star to a jazzier, more stretched-out phase of his existence. Seven of these tracks were issued by Delmark records as Jimmy Forrest's album All the Gin Is Gone…

“I think it’s important to be ambitious,” asserts Echo Bloom frontman and founder Kyle Evans. “When I started this band, that was a challenge that I set for myself. I wanted to make something really beautiful, whether it’s folk music or rock music or something more experimental. The medium and the people I’ve worked with have changed, but I’ve always tried to hold on to that fundamental idea.”