Some time back, Green was strongly recommended in a thread here and I bought "Aint't It Funky Now". I just got around to cuing it up and I am loving it.
OH, all of his albums are my favorites...if I had to pick the best I would vote for Idle Moments....if you buy cd's go for the RVG remasters....but LP's are the best(of course)
"Feelin' The Spirit" is one of his best, but it puzzles me as to why it has never been given the Music Matters 45RPM treatment like so many other GG titles. Same goes for Herbie Hancock's "Inventions and Dimensions" - great album, but never domestically reissued on vinyl (to my knowledge).
I've got a ton of Grant Green and it's all good. Since a bad suggestion by Grant is next to impossible, I will go for an unusual album. "The Final Comedown" is a movie score written by Mr. Green, it's his most esoteric work.
You may look for his live albums as well,I am aware of 3 of them,and also he recorded lots of albums as a guest guitarist in that period which are worth of listening,usually with some organ player,like big john patton,or baby face willete,or with pianist like sonny clark.He died in 1979,and maybe only some recordings in 70's are not so interesting because he was trying to make some money and therefore his recordings were made for commercial reasons more than artistic,but mayority of his work in almost 15 yeras are highly recommened.Try Kenny Burell,or Wes Mongomery as well
Something is very wrong, and I don't know if it's me or Blue Note. I have known about Grant Green all my life, yet I only became aware of those gems he made in the 60's after his death; while everyone was made aware of the commercial recordings he made in order to survive. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this. I also know "Baby Face Willette" made recordings for Blue Note that have disappeared; it's for sure I can't find them.
I recently bought a 2CD Blue Note set that is very good; "Grant Green, The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark". BTW: Blue Note has 15 Grant Green CDs listed.
Orpheus,I am not sure if I undrestood you correctly,but if you are looking for Baby Face editions on 'blue note',here in Europe you can buy them without a problem,on cd anyway.
Alexatpos, "Face" had one hit record. It came out in 63 ot 64. It was on Blue Note, and I don't remember the name of the record. Could you give me a list of what's available in Europe. Grant loved Face like a brother.
Orpheus,gladly,no problem. In my local cd shop there are 'Face to face' and 'Stop and listen. Also just checked them on Amazon,they are obtainable there as well. Also worth of mention is Green's work with Ike quebec,so Martykl,you may look for those colaborations as well,quebec is a great sax player
Thanks for the heads up. I just got hold of the three live sets - figuring that they'll cover a fair bit of ground and give me a feel for GG's range. I'm just unwrapping the first one today and hope to spin it up on the commute home. After that I'll work thru the recommended GG studio discs above. Then I'll check out the collaborations you suggest. Lots of listening ahead.
Once again, thanx to all who have taken the time to contribute here.
Be carefull of some of his recordings that were"never released" and they just found the long lost tapes and are issueing the recordings. Grant Green had a habit,used to show up @ the studio needing a fix and would lay down some tracks and then disapear. Alfred Lion's stated that is why there is so much stuff that is released after they say they lost the tapes. Some of it is inferior,until Lion's got smart he would front the artist his pay only to have them return all high on smack and the material was sub standard and wasn't worth releasing. Sometimes because Blue Note operated mostly lacking finances an artist would record something very good but the trend for that type of music wasn't selling or the artist's material wasn't selling so it was canned only to be released later. An example of this was Back to the Tracks by Tina Brooks which although the album jacket was shown on Blue Note album inserts was never released. It was later released on Japanese Blue Note if you bought all twelve of their vinyl re issues in the mid 80's. Each reissue had a ticket and if you sent all 12 in you were sent Back to the Tracks. It was then included in a Tina Brooks Mosiac box set and now is available on CD.
Anything that says never released or only released in Japan. Or in box sets where you have newly discovered tracks (Mosiac has one or two sets with Green) I actualy posted for everyone to understand the times these recordings were made,heroin was problem among many musicians,I'm sorry that your so full of yourself that you thought i was just responding to you.
"Idle Moments" is my favorite Grant Green offering but then I'm partial to any recordings featuring Bobby Hutchenson. " Am I Blue" would be another of my favorites by him,it features John Patton on organ and Joe Henderson on sax. Grant Green recorded alot of material with Big John Patton, and his work on Let em Roll and Big Bad John is worth checking out.
Martykl,just thought to remind you of a another great but under rated guitar player that willl sure make you smile. It is Ivan 'boogallo' Joe Jones,guess you can find his albums,on amazon probably,try 'Right on'.
Another artist Grant recorded with alot was Don Wilkerson. I have at least 4 albums with him and Don. I picked up a Blue Note Cd the other day called Ballads / Grant Green in the bargin bin,it's worth a listen,it's culled from his Blue Note recordings.
All the classic Blue Note recordings mentioned previously are great. There's a trio session from 1967 called Iron City with big John Patton worth checking out. It's funky and bluesy and intimate. It's been reissued on CD but sounds great on vinyl if you can find it.
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