Grant Green, who died in the 70's, is an artist definitely worth checking
out. He tended to play music that was a little more raw and funky than
straight ahead jazz. He does a GREAT job of covering many James Brown
tunes, and Verve has just put out a disc that claims his music is one of
the ancient precursors to the new style of acid-jazz. And one of the best
new *jazz-based* acid jazz bands called The Greyboy Allstars (IMO, 90% of
acid-jazz is based on pop, and is therefore crap) sounds a hell of a lot
llike Grant Green's music.
Essentialy, I would characterize his music as funk-influenced jazz. He
uses a small number of musicians, with a strong reliance on the rythym
section to drive the soloists to great heights. And boy can he solo...
but he never loses sight of the underlying rythym, and in fact
strongly incorporates the rythym into his soloing. This is why I like him
so much... From an acid-jazz perspective, if you cant feel/hear the
rythym, you cant dance either. :)
Here are some brief notes on the 3 GG albums that I have...
Feelin' the Spirit (w/ Herbie Hancock): <Blue Note>
On this album he gives his interpretation of several tradition
gospel/negro spirituals, including Go Down Moses, and Joshua Fought the
Battle of Jericho. The songs are very subtly funky and interesting, and
GG and HH play very well with each other. This is some of the best HH
piano work ive heard. highly recommended.
Carryin' On: <Blue Note>
On this album, he is backed up by a hammond organ instead of a piano.
This gives the album more of a 'funky' feel. 3 of the songs are fast and
cool, and pretty much blow away almost any acid-jazz you hear today
(except the aforementioned greyboy allstars). If you like acid jazz,
check out this album. The other 2 songs are rather sappy, sentimental,
classic 1970's elevator-type music. I guess nobody is perfect...
I recommend this one too, especially if you are an acid-jazz nut.
his majesty King funk: <verve>
This is a double album reissue by verve, with the other artist being
donald Byrd (i cant remeber which album). Verve touted this is a fine
example of the amazing grant green, precursor to modern acid-jazz. Dont
believe them for a second. On this album, his guitar sounds more like
1990's commercial jazz, and his funk is all washed up. I
didnt like a single song, and I would guess that Verve put out this
mediocre album because all of GG's good shit is still owned by Bluenote. The
donald byrd is much better musically, but also has some very annoying chorus
sung by the arythmic 'donald byrd singers.' Definitely, listen before you
buy...
'Grant Green is Beautiful', I have heard briefly... He uses some hand
percussionists, and it is seemed initially fairly cool and groovy.
Sorry I couldnt remember any more of the musicians who played on those
albums, there were some pretty good ones on feelin the spirit, i believe.
I hope nobody is disappointed by my advice. Suffice it to say, I like GG
quite alot, despite very recently thinking jazz guitar was only for sissies
and commericial sell-outs. :)
If like what I say, or want to tell me about some album you think I might
like, by all means let me know.
Kevin Whilden
Oh yeah, if you live in seattle, Sf or vancouver, DONT MISS greyboy. I
just moved from SD where I listened to them knock down the walls at the
green circle bar many a time...