Grant Green - 1964 [1995] "Solid"

Solid is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1964 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1979.

Solid is a companion piece to the Grant Green classic Matador, recorded about a month later with the same rhythm section, and also not issued until 1979. Green is once again accompanied by the Coltrane supporting team of pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones, plus bassist Bob Cranshaw; this time, however, Green is also joined on the front line by James Spaulding on alto sax and Joe Henderson on tenor. Both saxophonists really seem to light a fire under the proceedings, for in comparison with the relatively subdued Matador, Solid is a bright, hard-charging affair.

There's a little modal jazz, but Solid's repertoire is chiefly complex hard bop, full of challenging twists and turns that the players burn through with enthusiasm. Green didn't tackle this kind of material -- or play with this kind of group -- very often, and it's a treat to hear him do so on both counts. The compositions -- highlighted by Duke Pearson's "Minor League," Henderson's "The Kicker," and a storming, ten-minute exploration of George Russell's "Ezz-Thetic" -- provoke some intricate improvisations from Green, and his perfectly controlled soloing is an interesting contrast with the passionate Spaulding and Henderson. Tyner and Jones are once again telepathic in their support, elevating the whole package to one of Green's strongest jazz outings and a unique standout in his catalog. [Oddity: the CD bonus track "Wives and Lovers" seems to be the same one included on Matador, where it was a better fit.]

Grant Green's burning single-note lines out-swung most horn players. In the 1960s, Grant Green was the Blue Note guitarist. He could jam soulfully with organ combos, play bebop with the best, and dig into the most adventurous jazz on Blue Note while sounding perfectly at home. Solid, a memorable gem from 1964, remarkably went unreleased by Blue Note for 15 years because there were so many other Grant Green recordings at the time.

Green is part of a shockingly brilliant sextet (Joe Henderson, James Spaulding, McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw and Elvin Jones) performing music worthy of their talents including George Russell's "Ezz-Thetic" and Henderson's "The Kicker." The playing is full of surprises, the rhythm section displays telepathic interplay, and Grant Green shows in every soulful note that he was a guitar giant.

The selection Minor League is a classic Blue Note composition, with instant recognition of the Blue Note sound. “The head gives off that really hip, quartal harmony that really rose to prominence in the 60’s. “The strong brass presence also eliminates any lingering concern it might be just a guitar album. Joe Henderson!

Green has a soul-jazz feeling on Solid, soft warm tone in unison with the brass, at times sounding more Hammond B3 than guitar, fluid  linear melodic exploration of the compositions. He has an unusual pairing of horns – Joe Henderson’s gruff tenor with James Spaulding’s bright alto. Henderson has a hard, fractious tone, his athletic figures covering the entire register of the tenor, while Spaulding does a credible job just holding his own.

Tyner contributes characteristically elegant sweeping forms, left hand chopping accents against the right hand’s fluid exploration of the upper keys.  Elvin Jones more than hints at the power below, punishing the ride cymbal to mark time. (Jones is a mixed blessing on Green albums. Here he is well controlled, but on Matador – Bedouin, he treats us to a long and out-of-place drum solo – the type which clears the auditorium and fills the bar). As always, the bass is the forgotten hero, Bob Cranshaw modestly holding everyone together.

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Track listing:

1. "Minor League" (Pearson) – 7:05
2. "Ezz-Thetic" (Russell) – 10:41
3. "Grant's Tune" (Grant Green) – 7:01
4. "Solid" (Rollins) – 7:23
5. "The Kicker" (Henderson) – 6:23
6. "Wives and Lovers" (Bacharach, David) – 9:00 Bonus track on CD reissue, from Matador

Personnel:

Grant Green - guitar
James Spaulding - alto saxophone (tracks 1-5)
Joe Henderson - tenor saxophone (tracks 1-5)
McCoy Tyner - piano
Bob Cranshaw - bass
Elvin Jones - drums

Grant Green - 2018 "5 Original Albums"

Grant Green, who died at the age of 43 in 1979 placed himself alongside Wes Montgomery as a paragon of guitar technique in the twentieth century. These five original albums appear to have the best of his extensive back catalogue.

By the early sixties, Green was a force to be reckoned with for the visionary application of such technical knowledge of which he was deservedly proud.

Green rarely played chords, the organ or piano did all that background and of course, much more too, in the ensemble. He learned his distinctive style by studying horn players, rather than tracking the hand movements of other guitarists. Serious heroin addiction stultified the gift and the musician, who was born in St Louis, moved to Detroit after 1969 to rehabilitate himself. Further music followed in the seventies.

The five albums assembled here are a comprehensive anthology, and the slipcase includes Street of Dreams, which might just end up your favourite late-night, feet-up loungy choice. The album has four, lengthy tracks, opening with I Wish You Love, the Charles Trenet classic which you may know better by its original title in French, Que reste-t-il de nos amours.

Lazy Afternoon, credited to J Latouche and J Moross (search me) follows, one of the best-known Green pieces, wistful, moodily elusive and permanent in its subtle glow. The guitarist’s reading of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Corcovado features on the album I Want To Hold Your Hand, whose title track is, yes, you’ve guessed right, the Lennon/McCartney hit.  There is uptempo, swing-oriented material on Grant’s First Stand and gospel, bluesy approaches are essayed elsewhere. Alluring stuff, featuring an array of legends, aiding and abetting, including Bobby Hutcherson, Elvin Jones, Larry Young, Joe Henderson, Bob Cranshaw and others.

1961 Grant's First Stand:

Grant Green's debut album, Grant's First Stand, still ranks as one of his greatest pure soul-jazz outings, a set of killer grooves laid down by a hard-swinging organ trio. For having such a small lineup -- just organist Baby Face Willette and drummer Ben Dixon -- the group cooks up quite a bit of power, really sinking its teeth into the storming up-tempo numbers, and swinging loose and easy on the ballads. The influence of the blues on both Green and Willette is strong and, while that's far and away the dominant flavor of the session, Green also displays his unique bop phrasing (learned by studying horn players' lines, rather than other guitarists) to fine effect on his high-octane opener, "Miss Ann's Tempo," and Willette's "Baby's Minor Lope." Green's original blues "A Wee Bit O'Green" and "Blues for Willarene" are both memorable, particularly the former, and the two standards -- "Lullaby of the Leaves" and "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do" -- are given smoky treatments soaked in bluesy, late-night atmosphere. Willette and Dixon both supply a tremendous rhythmic drive, and Willette's solos burn with gospel fervor. This same trio performed together on Willette's Stop and Listen album, with equally heated results. None of Green's contemporaries used the single-note style (Green rarely played chords, leaving that to the organ or piano) to quite the same degree, making him a unique voice on his instrument. And his terrific debut pegged him as an up-and-comer to watch closely.

Track listing:

All compositions by Grant Green except as indicated
"Miss Ann's Tempo" – 5:38
"Lullaby of the Leaves" (Bernice Petkere, Joe Young) – 7:41
"Blues for Willareen" – 7:08
"Baby's Minor Lope" (Baby Face Willette) – 7:19
"'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do" (Porter Grainger) – 4:26
"A Wee Bit O'Green" – 7:49

Personnel:

Grant Green – guitar
Baby Face Willette – organ
Ben Dixon – drums


1963 Idle Moments:

This languid, seductive gem may well be Grant Green's greatest moment on record. Right from the opening bars of the classic title cut, Idle Moments is immediately ingratiating and accessible, featuring some of Green's most stylish straight jazz playing. Whether he's running warm (pianist Duke Pearson's "Idle Moments"), cool (the Modern Jazz Quartet's "Django"), or a bit more up-tempo (Pearson's "Nomad," his own "Jean de Fleur"), Green treats the material with the graceful elegance that was the hallmark of his best hard bop sessions, and that quality achieves its fullest expression here. He's helped by an ensemble that, as a sextet, is slightly larger and fuller-sounding than usual, and there's plenty of room for solo explorations on the four extended pieces. Pearson's touch on the piano is typically warm, while two players best known on Blue Note for their modernist dates mellow out a bit -- the cool shimmer of Bobby Hutcherson's vibes is a marvelously effective addition to the atmosphere, while Joe Henderson plays with a husky, almost Ike Quebec-like breathiness. That cushion of support helps spur Green to some of the loveliest, most intimate performances of his career -- no matter what the tempo, it's as if his guitar is whispering secrets in your ear. It's especially true on the dreamy title track, though: a gorgeous, caressing, near-15-minute excursion that drifts softly along like a warm, starry summer night. Even more than the two-disc set The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark, Idle Moments is the essential first Green purchase, and some of the finest guitar jazz of the hard bop era.

Track listing:

"Idle Moments" (Pearson) – 14:56
"Jean De Fleur" (Green) – 6:49
"Django" (John Lewis) – 8:44
"Nomad" (Pearson) – 12:16
Bonus tracks on CD reissue:

"Jean De Fleur" [Alternate Take] - 8:09
"Django" [Alternate Take] - 13:12
Recorded on November 4 (#1, 4-6)and November 15 (#2-3), 1963.

Personnel:

Grant Green - guitar
Joe Henderson - tenor saxophone
Duke Pearson - piano
Bobby Hutcherson - vibraphone
Bob Cranshaw - double bass
Al Harewood - drums


1963 The Latin Bit:

Grant Green, being known mainly as a soul jazz guitarist, eventually gravitated into the popular boogaloo sound. The Latin Bit is the natural bridge to that next phase, though a bit premature for most in 1961-1963, even relative to the subsequent bossa nova craze. Pianist Johnny Acea, long an underrated jazzman, is the nucleus of this session, grounding it with witty chops, chordal comping, and rhythmic meat. The Latino rhythm section of drummer Willie Bobo and conga player Carlos "Patato" Valdes personify authentic, seasoned spice, while at times the chekere sound of Garvin Masseaux makes the soup too thick. At its collective best, the group presents a steady, serene, and steamy "Besame Mucho" and the patient, slow, slinky, sultry "Tico Tico." Just a small step below is a classy take on Charlie Parker's "My Little Suede Shoes," a premier jazz bebop (emphasis) tune with a Latin undertow and Green's tiniest staccato phrases, slightly marred by the overbearing constant chekere, but still classic. "Mama Inez" ranks high for its calypso-infused happy feeling and wry stop-start lines. The straight-ahead hard bopper "Brazil" and lone soul-jazz tune, "Blues for Juanita," display the single-note acumen that made Green's style instantly recognizable. This date always yielded mixed results for staunch fans of Green, but it remains a credible effort, even if slightly flawed in part. [Some reissues add two selections with pianist Sonny Clark and tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec, the latter of whom plays hip secondary harmonies on the bossa nova-flavored "Granada," but is in the complete background and a non-factor on the pop tune "Hey There."]

Track listing:

All compositions by Grant Green except where noted

"Mambo Inn" (Bauzá, Sampson, Bobby Woodlen) – 5:52
"Bésame Mucho" (Consuelo Velázquez) – 7:12
"Mama Inez" (L. Wolfe Gilbert, Eliseo Grenet) – 6:42
"Brazil" (Barroso) – 5:01
"Tico Tico" (Zequinha de Abreu) – 7:46
"My Little Suede Shoes" (Parker) – 6:23
Bonus track on CD reissue:

"Blues for Juanita" – 7:06
"Granada" (Agustín Lara) – 6:27
"Hey There" (Adler, Ross) – 7:24
Recorded on April 26 (tracks 1-7) and September 7 (tracks 8-9), 1962.

Personnel:

Grant Green - guitar
Ike Quebec - tenor saxophone (tracks 8-9)
John Acea (tracks 1-7), Sonny Clark (tracks 8-9) - piano
Wendell Marshall - bass
Willie Bobo - drums
Carlos "Patato" Valdes - conga (tracks 1-6, 8-9)
Garvin Masseaux - chekere (tracks 1-6)


1964 Street Of Dreams:

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. There aren't really any fireworks or funky grooves, as the music is all of a piece, which makes it difficult to choose the highlights from French songwriter Charles Trenet's "I Wish You Love," "Lazy Afternoon," the title track, or "Somewhere in the Night." It's another fine record in a discography filled with them, and yet another underrated Green session.

Track listing:

"I Wish You Love" (Chauliac, Trenet) – 8:46
"Lazy Afternoon" (Latouche, Moross) – 7:44
"Street of Dreams" (Young, Lewis) – 9:03
"Somewhere in the Night" (Billy May, Milt Raskin) – 8:01

Personnel:

Grant Green - guitar
Bobby Hutcherson - vibes
Larry Young - organ
Elvin Jones - drums


1966 I Want To Hold Your Hand:

The third of three sessions Grant Green co-led with modal organist Larry Young and Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones, I Want to Hold Your Hand continues in the soft, easy style of its predecessor, Street of Dreams. This time, however -- as one might guess from the title and cover photo -- the flavor is less reflective and more romantic and outwardly engaging. Part of the reason is tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, who takes Bobby Hutcherson's place accompanying the core trio. His breathy, sensuous warmth keeps the album simmering at a low boil, and some of the repertoire helps as well, mixing romantic ballad standards (often associated with vocalists) and gently undulating bossa novas. The title track -- yes, the Beatles tune -- is one of the latter, cleverly adapted and arranged into perfectly viable jazz that suits Green's elegant touch with pop standards; the other bossa nova, Jobim's "Corcovado," is given a wonderfully caressing treatment. Even with all the straightforward pop overtones of much of the material, the quartet's playing is still very subtly advanced, both in its rhythmic interaction and the soloists' harmonic choices. Whether augmented by an extra voice or sticking to the basic trio format, the Green/Young/Jones team produced some of the most sophisticated organ/guitar combo music ever waxed, and I Want to Hold Your Hand is the loveliest of the bunch.

Track listing:

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 7:23
"Speak Low" (Ogden Nash, Kurt Weill) – 7:14
"Stella by Starlight" (Ned Washington, Victor Young) – 6:29
"Corcovado (Quiet Nights)" (Antonio Carlos Jobim) – 5:59
"This Could Be the Start of Something" (Steve Allen) – 7:08
"At Long Last Love" (Cole Porter) – 7:17

Personnel:

Grant Green - guitar
Hank Mobley - tenor saxophone (tracks 1-4 & 6)
Larry Young - organ
Elvin Jones - drums

Grant Green - 1969 [2004] "Goin' West"

Goin' West is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1962 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1969. It is a loose concept album inspired by Western music.

A Blue Note album finally reissued on CD in early 2004, Grant Green's Goin' West -- like Feelin' the Spirit -- includes Herbie Hancock on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. Includes tunes like (can you believe?) "On Top of Old Smokey" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." Only Green could carry this off, but he is the man when it comes to standards.

Tempting as it is to dismiss this Grant Green album as the sixties' slant on lite jazz, overriding talent, as one would expect, has a tendency to compensate for a decided lack of risk taking, the very virtue, considering the quality of these players, that could have elevated Goin' West to a minor classic. Recorded in November of 1962 and shelved until 1969, possibly because of its brevity or the glut of Green releases on the market, Goin' West , if one wanted to labor the point, is actually a third of a cycle of would-be concept albums cut by the guitarist over an eight month period after Born To Be Blue and nearly a year prior to Idle Moments —or, as they could be co-billed, the infallible Grant Green recordings as a leader. While The Latin Bit focused on samba styles and Feelin' the Spirit drew from the old Southern hymnals, Goin' West , though nominally a country and western recording, moves us into the realm of folk music—bluegrass folk music and clippity-clappity cowboy tunes— not the stuff of the Bear Family Bonanza box set, mind, but not altogether dissimilar in spirit. Considering drummer Billy Higgins had played on Ornette Coleman's first Atlantic sessions, bassist Reggie Workman with John Coltrane, and pianist Herbie Hancock would soon become a part of Miles Davis' most adventurous and best band, the playing could not be more "in." Having said that, it would be hard to imagine Goin' West being a greater delight, a straight forward, unencumbered jazz delight—finesse jazz is a readily applicable moniker. As much as you may resent "On Top of Old Smokey" from your grammar school days, and its proliferate versions in all manner and mode of musical genre, the version here, with that killer, pulse to the fore sound of Rudy Van Gelder, has what could well make the shortlist of classic Grant Green solos, a brisk, bluesy, construction that unfurls economically and incisively with the manner and shape of a narrative, albeit one shot through with triplets. A masterpiece, no—Billy Higgins may even be the real star of this record—but Goin' West is an intriguing release nonetheless—I often find it to be a daily favorite—and current day MOR fetishists may well have their minds blown.

Goin' West has a slow ramblin' blues feel to it. Funky soul jazz master Grant Green has infused some down home soul groove into some classic cowboy tunes. Who would have thought you could make "On Top of old smokey" hip and cool, but Green found a way. Yes this is the "on top of old smokey, all covered with sorrow, I met my sweet ...." song. Joining Green on this album is a stellar group of blue note artists. Herbie Hancock plays piano, Billy Higgins plays the drums, and Reggie Workman plays bass. All four musicians make great contributions through out, but I just love crazy, hokie, out on the prarie percussion sounds drummer, Billy Higgins adds. Grant Green went through a short phase where he tried to infuse soul jazz into a variety of different styles. On the Latin Bit, Latin Jazz was the muse. In "feeling the spirit" gospel music was the inspiration. Here country/cowboy tunes is the theme. Of all of these projects, this one is the wildest and most original and interesting concept. The other genres aren't really that far from soul jazz to begin with. On the other hand there is a pretty big gap between country and soul jazz, and its bridged beautifully here. For certain this is a soul jazz album, not a country album. Country/western is just the inspiration, not the style of this music. This is my favorite Grant Green Album.

This was the first Grant Green album I ever bought and I still have the original on vinyl and since this is my very last review on amazon it is quite appropriate to review "Goin West"
This album was in fact recorded one month before the more wellknown "gospelalbum" called Feelin the Spirit and it was the very first time that Hancock and Green recorded together. Hancock shines on this recording like he did on"Feelin the Spirit"..he could only have been around 20 years old here..and still his playing is very mature.Green is playing all songs
with that fantastic blues feeling of his and at times he is very funky.The rythm section here is Billy Higgins on drums
and Reggie Workman on bass and they give a wonderful support to Green and Hancock...I always liked Workmans bassplaying.
"Smokey" and " I can t stop loving you" are played very groovy..but my very favourite is "Red River Valley" which is taken in an effortless latin groove.

Track listing:

1. "On Top of Old Smokey" (Traditional) – 7:05
2. "I Can't Stop Loving You" (Gibson) – 3:29
3. "Wagon Wheels" (DeRose, Hill) – 6:25
4. "Red River Valley" (Traditional) – 6:08
5. "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" (Nolan) – 11:05

Personnel:

Grant Green - guitar
Herbie Hancock - piano
Reggie Workman - bass
Billy Higgins - drums

Grant Green - 1965 [1990] "Matador"

Matador is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1964 but not released on the Japanese Blue Note label until 1979. The album was finally reissued in the U.S. on CD in 1990 with one bonus track. It was also reissued on vinyl in 2010, with a different cover.

Grant Green recorded so much high-quality music for Blue Note during the first half of the '60s that a number of excellent sessions went unissued at the time. Even so, it's still hard to figure out why 1964's Matador was only released in Japan in 1979, prior to its U.S. CD reissue in 1990 -- it's a classic and easily one of Green's finest albums. In contrast to the soul-jazz and jazz-funk for which Green is chiefly remembered, Matador is a cool-toned, straight-ahead modal workout that features some of Green's most advanced improvisation, even more so than his sessions with Larry Young. Part of the reason for that is that Green is really pushed by his stellar backing unit: pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Bob Cranshaw, and drummer Elvin Jones. Not only is Green leading a group that features one-half of the classic Coltrane Quartet, but he even takes on Coltrane's groundbreaking arrangement of "My Favorite Things" -- and more than holds his own over ten-plus minutes. In fact, every track on the album is around that length; there are extended explorations of two Green originals ("Green Jeans" and the title track) and Duke Pearson's Middle Eastern-tinged "Bedouin," plus the bonus cut "Wives and Lovers," a swinging Bacharach pop tune not on the Japanese issue. The group interplay is consistently strong, but really the spotlight falls chiefly on Green, whose crystal-clear articulation flourishes in this setting. And, for all of Matador's advanced musicality, it ends up being surprisingly accessible. This sound may not be Green's claim to fame, but Matador remains one of his greatest achievements.

The record teams Green with two-thirds of saxophonist John Coltrane's rhythm section of the time—pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones—plus bassist Bob Cranshaw. The result is nothing less than Green's best album.

The quartet kicks off with the Green original, "Matador," a tune of tempered momentum with Green spinning off his trademark crisp, biting lines over the easy swinging rhythm section. The warm, energetic yet controlled mood may have inspired the tune's title, although the repeated theme at open and close also rumbles with an impressionistic Spanish feel, recalling the bullfight's pasodoble. (Green seemed somewhat enthused with—or, at least, fascinated by—bullfighting at the time, penning the likewise exotic, though more heated, "Plaza de Toros" for organist Larry Young's Into Somethin' album, recorded in November 1964, which also features Green's playing.) Tyner sweeps the sands with his trademark dusting of keys on the number—fleet, supple high-end runs, punctuated by the shifting of deep chordal blocks—creating a fluid, calming effect. And, in spots, hinting at the melody to come on track 2.

If there's an aspect that pushes Matador toward the infamous, it's this second tune: a go at the Coltrane "theme," "My Favorite Things," with half of the saxophonist's band in tow. It took some chutzpah not only to attempt it, but for Green to make the tune his own in this setting without charging decidedly and awkwardly into some far off field of free-jazz experimentation. Green's tone is full, his feel relaxed, as he breezes through the melodic turns before attacking his solo with increased grit and chop, while never losing the comfortable rhythmic feel. His solo stretches out bar after bar, building its intensity unhurriedly through waves of repeatedly sketched chordal figures and bluesy, two-note hammering—a wholly satisfying, sustained and strong release of emotion that culminates naturally with a return to the melody. The Tyner solo that follows is more lively and fluid than his turn on the 1961 Coltrane recording, implying an active engagement with these favorite things rather than the heavy, harmonic clang felt from things lost or slipping away. Still, the tune is almost impossible to cover without relaying something of the anxiety that knits into the feelings we attach to that which we possess, or would like to.

"Green Jeans," another of the guitarist's originals, moves the record into lighter, more amiable fare. Both Green and Tyner solo more freely than on the previous two tracks—Green jangling even in a fit of joyous momentum—to stretch the playful melody to its fullest effect. Duke Pearson's "Bedouin," however, returns the mood to somberness for the close, invoking, as Michael Cuscuna indicates in the liner notes, the Asiatic feel of the nomadic Bedouins. Green's solo here reprises the repetition of arpeggiated figures used to such fine effect in "My Favorite Things." But the highlight is Jones' lone solo of the album, stepping directly from Tyner's sweeping fluidity to craft a wholly musical, polyrhythmic statement that follows an organic progression—or regression—into the most elemental of drumming's voices, ending in a tom-tom beat that wholly deconstructs the tune. When the group joins Jones to restate the theme the melody feels rejuvenated, recreated.

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Track listing:

    "Matador" (Green) – 10:51
    "My Favorite Things" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers) – 10:23
    "Green Jeans" (Green) – 9:10
    "Bedouin" (Pearson) – 11:41
    "Wives and Lovers" (Bacharach, David) – 9:01 Bonus track on CD reissue

Recorded on May 20 (tracks 1-4) & June 12 (track 5), 1964.

Personnel:

    Grant Green - guitar
    McCoy Tyner - piano
    Bob Cranshaw - bass
    Elvin Jones - drums

Grant Green - 1963 [2001] "Am I Blue"

Am I Blue is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label.

This great guitarist recorded in a variety of settings and concepts during his years at Blue Note. Am I Blue featured the perennial trio of Green, organist John Patton and drummer Ben Dixon with the trumpet of Johnny Coles and the tenor saxophone of newcomer Joe Henderson.

What makes this album so unusual in Green's canon is that the entire album is in a soulful, atmospheric ballad groove. The material ranges from the blues ballad "Sweet Slumber" to the country song "Take These Chains From My Heart", but the after hours mood that these men create is never broken. This is the first appearance of this album on CD.

AM I BLUE features the classic Green/Patton/Dixon ensemble plus Johnny Cole and Joe Henderson on horns in a delightful yet unusually laid back vain. The gospel influence in John's playing is particularly evident on this recording, as is his minimalist philosophy. (If you don't have to play it, don't) Ironically, in his latter years, due to a strange accident with a car jack which would injure a tendon in his hand he would not have use of his pinky and fourth finger, yet could still create some of the richest and most amazing connections on the organ as well as develop very rich and lucid solo ideas ! The showstopper on the CD is the light and bouncy FOR ALL WE KNOW... Of course, Johnny Coles and a then newcomer and relatively unknown Joe Henderson definitely get their word in, but it is amazing to hear John's passing chords behind them. Grant Green typically lays out, listening, listening, listening, listening (which is what a soloist needs to be doing when his other bandmates are playing... not playing over them, or holding coversations, but listening and taking in the dialogue). Finally, Grant comes in and is as crisp, melodious and swinging and used expect him to be... throwing in a few surprise left hooks as well! - - Last word goes to John... who in turn not only takes a well crafted single note solo, but digs down with a real nifty shout chorus as well (though admittedly I will ever have to admit that Johnny Hammond Smith and Wild Bill will ever have him beat on that.) With Ben Dixon in his corner, however, he does take it home quite masterfully ! of note: That's the one thing that distinguishes a Grant Green session from one of those sessions where people are trying to copy such a session - - you can really tell the players are listening to each other, providing a lot of space and responding to one another's ideas! True Jazz masters are at their best not when they're showing off what they know... but when they're really listening and responding to what's going on around them. Then magic occurs, as was the historical case of John Coltrane's layer of sound discovery.

If you like Grant Green, you know what to expect from this album: a GREAT recording. Sure, it's not THAT unique from others around the time but it is by no means a bad album. There aren't any bonus tracks or alternate takes (like many of the other RVG remasters) but the album is impossible to find on vinyl so that's forgiveable; practically the only complaint I have with it. Don't be fooled by snobbery.

Track listing:

"Am I Blue" (Harry Akst, Grant Clarke) - 6:56
"Take These Chains from My Heart" (Hy Heath, Fred Rose) - 6:12
"I Wanna Be Loved" (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Billy Rose) - 7:39
"Sweet Slumber" (Lucky Millinder, Al J. Neiburg, Henri Woode) - 7:17
"For All We Know" (J. Fred Coots, Sam M. Lewis) - 13:59

Personnel:

Grant Green - guitar
Johnny Coles - trumpet
Joe Henderson - tenor saxophone
"Big" John Patton - organ
Ben Dixon - drums

George Benson Quartet - 1967 [2001] "George Benson Cookbook"

The Hard Bop Homepage says of the album, "This is basically the George Benson quartet, with Smith and Cuber, but trombonist Bennie Green and percussionist Pucho were added on some tracks, giving them a bop flavor that delighted dedicated jazz fans and critics. Benson's quartet was modeled after Jack McDuff's--with baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber, organist Lonnie Smith, a powerhouse player who deserved more attention than he ever received, and Jimmy Lovelace or Marion Booker on drums. The sonorous tone of Cuber's baritone gives the quartet a richer, more dense texture than that obtained by McDuff, who used a tenor, but the overall sound is the same. At twenty-five, Ronnie Cuber was an alumnus of Marshall Brown's celebrated Newport Youth Band; he had spent the previous two years with Maynard Ferguson's very loud and brassy orchestra, which may account for his aggressive style, but Cuber's approach also emphasized rhythm, and that was precisely the ingredient called for by a "soul jazz" group of this kind."

The second of Benson's John Hammond-produced albums is far and away the superior of the pair, mixing down-to-basics, straight-ahead jazz with soul-drenched grooving. Suddenly Benson's backup group - same as that of Uptown, with Benny Green added on trombone now and then - has found its bearings and apropos to the title, they can cook, even sizzle. The effect upon Benson's own playing is striking; with something to react against, his sheer ability to swing advances into the realm of awesome. The rapid-fire work on "The Cooker" and "Ready And Able" will make you gasp. Only one vocal here, an exuberant "All Of Me." [In mid-2001 Columbia/Legacy reissued this 1966 classic, along with It's Uptown, recorded only several months earlier. Four bonus tracks include a (previously unreleased) doo wop vocal rendition of Little Willie John's "Let Them Talk" and two Benson originals that are pure rock-n-roll: "The Man from Toledo" and "Goodnight." Two of the bonus cuts are preceded by control-booth comments from the session's legendary producer, John Hammond.]

For those fans, listening to George Benson after 1966 is like the obligatory New Years Drink from your employer. Damn, is guessing who’s been under the sheets with whom the only game around here?. Ok, one might answer the demure jazz buff, next time bring your turntable, light things up a bit, you crank. And the fifty-something who grew up on a diet of Average White Band and Santana might add, hey pal, George Benson did record some awesome stuff after ’66.

Sure he did. Except most of it is drowned in an overstuffed sound soup of strings, harp, flute, synth and, yuk, strings from the synth. A&M and CTI albums like The Other Side Of Abbey Road (1970) and White Rabbit (1972) are, notwithstanding the heavyweight line-ups of, among others, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter, technically exceptional elevator muzak affairs, no less. If it wasn’t for the greasy, steamroller beat of drummer Idris Muhammad, 1968’s The Shape Of Things To Come would’ve been nothing more than schlock for the building constructors working on the streets where you live. Then again, few are prepared for My Latin Brother from Bad Benson (1974), a smoking, exotic and sizzling Latin tune with a quintet line up from the matured guitar player. And the highlights of Benson’s big break as a smooth jazz star in 1976, collected on Breezin’, are, despite their schmaltzy coating of synth, pretty darn good courtesy of the experienced, first-class session players – take So This Is Love. The only thing it needs is the voice of Barry White. Next thing you know one of sixteen vestal virgins appears from out of the blue, ready to sign up for Procol Harum’s harem.

As early as early 1968, when Benson was still a soul jazz guitarist, there were hints of radio-friendly formatting. His album Giblet Gravy has both the low-down dirty blues, injected with typical lightning-bolt fingering, of Groovin’ as the saccharine take of the ultimate crowd pleaser, Bobby Hebb’s Sunny. In fact, he’s singing an r&b-type version of All Of Me on Cookbook that could’ve done well on the jukebox market. George Benson has always been the kind of performer that succeeds in recording bubblegum ditties in the afternoon and play steamin’ r&b at night. Organist Greg Lewis told Flophouse that he regularly tried to sit in as a woodshedding Hammond B3 player in the early nineties in a Manhattan club, sometimes succeeding to replace one of the accomplished organists for a tune or so. Occasionally, Benson, at the height of his fame, would drive his limousine up the sidewalk, park, get in and join the band on stage. Nobody cut George.

Cocksure at heart. Benson was like that when he first hit the scene as a sideman with organist Brother Jack McDuff in late 1963. By no means arrogant, instead playing with a joy of discovery that is contagious. In McDuff’s band, the youngster, who sang professionally as a kid, still played the kind of r&b guitar style from his teenage years, although the influence of his heroes Charlie Christian and Grant Green (interpreted in fast forward motion) were readily discernible. Displaying quicksilver runs, a biting attack, torrents of foul-mouthed but impeccably placed blues phrases, Benson heated up both studio and stage to temperatures uncommon even in New Jersey or New York City summer season.

After a string of albums with McDuff and his debut album on Prestige, The New Boss Guitar Of George Benson, the guitarist had signed to Columbia, releasing It’s Uptown in 1966, with one of those grandiose subtitles I’m sure musicians weren’t too fond of, The Most Exciting New Jazz Guitarist On The Scene Today. It was a thoroughly exciting group that Benson had assembled and baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber, organist Lonnie Smith and drummer Jimmy Lovelace (alternating with Marion Booker) also gathered for the Cookbook session, still more tight-knit as a unit, delivering a hot barbecue of spicy ribs and saucy side dishes. There’s the opening tune, The Cooker, a strike of stop-time thunder, evidence of the group’s effortless breakneck speed swing and Benson’s fast-fingered blues wizardry. Perhaps already the highlight of the album, which yet doesn’t take anything away from the remainder of the repertory, including other Benson originals like the gentle Bossa Rocka and Big Fat Lady, a perky r&b tune that could easily pass for the background to Jimmy Hughes on Fame or Hank Ballard on King.

Benson gets his kicks with licks on Benson’s Rider, a boogaloo-ish rhythm perfectly suitable for the deeply groovy Lonnie Smith. Benson wrote the The Borgia Stick for a mafia television series, a lush greenery for the mutually responsive soul jazz cultivators, who are effectively aroused by sections of tension and release. The nifty Jimmy Smith tune Ready And Able presents the burgeoning talent of baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber to full effect. He’s like the cookie monster that’s gotten a shot of rhythm&blues, soulfully eating up the breaks off the I Got Rhythm changes.

The other horn player on the date, Benny Green, happened to walk into his friend George Benson on the street prior to Benson’s session. Benson invited Green over to the studio to join the proceedings. Such is the unique nature of jazz and its practitioners, that sheer coincidence may be turned into a musical advantage. Green’s uplifting, swinging style is an asset on Benny’s Back (which was written on the spot by Benson and refers to the fact that Green was also present on Benson’s first Columbia LP) and the swing-styled jam Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid, the longest track on an album that keeps warming the hearts of ‘early-Benson-fans’ around the globe.

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=george+benson

Track listing:

All tracks composed by George Benson; except where indicated

01.    "The Cooker"         4:18
02.    "Benny's Back"         4:10
03.    "Bossa Rocka"         4:20
04.    "All of Me"    Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons    2:08
05.    "Big Fat Lady"         4:40
06.    "Benson's Rider"         5:30
07.    "Ready and Able"    Jimmy Smith    3:32
08.    "The Borgia Stick"         3:05
09.    "Return of the Prodigal Son"    Harold Ousley    2:34
10.    "Jumpin' with Symphony Sid"    Lester Young    6:33

CD bonus tracks

11.    "The Man from Toledo"    2:08
12.    "Slow Scene"    3:11
13.    "Let Them Talk"    2:51
14.    "Goodnight"    2:21
Total length:    50:31

Personnel

    George Benson – guitar, vocals
    Ronnie Cuber – baritone saxophone
    Bennie Green – trombone
    Lonnie Smith – organ
    Albert Winston – bass
    Jimmy Lovelace – drums
    Marion Booker, Jr. – drums

Various Artists - 1988 CTI - "Masters Of The Guitar"

This is probably the most widely played jazz-guitar CD in my collection. I originally got this CD in 1988. This purchase was my second copy, since my first copy got scratched. I loved it in '88, I still love it now. Timeless music.

I'm amazed at the efficiency of the market. Not enough people know about this gem. You can buy this for a buck. Wow. CTI, during the period represented by this compilation, had a stable of outstanding players, all of whom would go on to make names for themselves in the emerging world of commercial jazz.

Note, I didn't say smooth jazz. Rather, this was real jazz played to a growing, cross-over audience. Music molded by Creed Taylor (the CT in CTI) to move people deeper into the jazz mainstream. George Benson, before he became a singer. John McLauglin as a side-man on Joe Farrell's gig. Grant Green mapping the territory for jam bands which would arrive a decade and-a-half later. Joe Beck introducing a then-unknown David Sanborn, and the definitive Jim Hall collaborating with Art Farmer. And more.

Track Listing / Personnel:
 
CTI MASTERS OF THE GUITAR
Various Artists
Recorded 1971-1978. Issued 1988.

01. El Mar - George Benson (from WHITE RABBIT) - 10:47 remix
02. Black Gold - Phil Upchurch (from UPCHURCH/TENNYSON) - 3:29
03. Rock Steady - as by "Eric Gale"
     (from WILD HORSES ROCK STEADY) - 6:44
04. Brothers & Others - Joe Beck (from BECK) - 6:26
05. God Bless The Child - Kenny Burrell (from GOD BLESS THE CHILD) - 8:00
06. I Remember Wes - as by "George Benson" (from GIANT BOX) - 4:08
07. Big Blues - as by "Jim Hall" (from BIG BLUES) - 7:21
08. Creature - Grant Green (from THE MAIN ATTRACTION) - 10:18
09. It's So Hard To Say Goodbye - Gabor Szabo (from RAMBLER) - 4:41
10. Follow Your Heart - as by "John McLaughlin"
     (from JOE FARRELL QUARTET) - 6:46 remix
11. Ballad Of The Sad Young Men - Kenny Burrell
     (from GOD BLESS THE CHILD) - 2:14 

Gabor Szabo - 1966 [1998] "Spellbinder" [Japan Import]

Spellbinder is an album by Hungarian guitarist Gábor Szabó featuring performances recorded in 1966 for the Impulse! label.[1] The album contains "Gypsy Queen" which was covered together with Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" by Santana on his 1970 Abraxas album. Wiki.

Released just six months after Gypsy '66, Gabor Szabo's second album as a leader (after leaving a sublime Chico Hamilton band that also included Charles Lloyd) remains one of his finest moments in the studio. Szabo utilized the tales of bassist Ron Carter and his old boss Hamilton on drums, as well as a pair of fine Latin percussionists -- Willie Bobo and Victor Pantoja. The groove quotient was very high on Spellbinder, maybe even higher than on later albums such as Jazz Raga or Sorcerer. This set is all Szabo, drifting, wafting, and soaring above all that rhythm; the track selection provides ample space for Szabo's highly individualized Eastern modal style to shine. The set opens with the title track, a snaky guitar masterpiece with plenty of droning strings and pinched chords that are followed by open string flourishes. Carter holds the entire band together as Hamilton plays in counterpoint to the percussionists. This is followed with two nuggets from the pop book of the day, the Coleman/Leigh classic "Witchcraft" and "It Was a Very Good Year." From the performances here, it's apparent that Szabo was deeply influenced by singers, and Frank Sinatra was at his pinnacle during this time. There's the emerging '60s psychedelic sound in Szabo's playing, but it is underlaid with bossa rhythms and swells. These tracks, while flavored with Latin and pop stylings, are gorgeous guitar jazz. Szabo gets back into his own mystic thang with "Gypsy Queen" (the opening droning moments of which the Doors lifted entirely for "The End"). Here the Latin rhythms and guitar go head to head, point to counterpoint. A pronounced yet elusive melody line propels a series of polyrhythms forward into an abyss of melody, mode, and frighteningly intense legato phrasing, leaving the listener breathless. He takes the edge off with Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang (She Shot Me Down)." Szabo sings here in his plaintive Hungarian-inflected English, and the tune becomes something other than a pop song, but a tome on despair and loss. The funky "Cheetah" follows with gorgeous arpeggios, pointedly turning into chords of distinction as Hamilton rides the crash cymbal into territories unknown and double-times the band until it notches up the intensity. This set follows with one more Szabo original ("Yearning") and a trio of standards, with a heartbreakingly beautiful read of "My Foolish Heart" and a medley of "Autumn Leaves" and "Speak to Me of Love." Szabo's read on jazz in the '60s was brilliant. He embodied all of its most popular aspirations with a genuine spirit of innovation and adventure. Spellbinder is a masterpiece. All Music.

I love Jazz Guitar and have many many albums by the best in the business ;Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Herb Ellis, Wes Montgomery, Bill Frissell, JIm Hall and many others....

Of all the Jazz GUitar albums i own, Spellbinder album by Gabor Szabo is one of my favourites....his tone is utterly unique and coming from Hungary (eurpoe), has definietly added to his flavour.

on Spellbinder the arrangement with a tonne of percussion and bass lays a huge spacious foundation for Gabor Szabo to paint over the top....there are no other treble instruments to get in his way....its all there for Gabor Szabo to rip on and he does!

A great album opened me up to his other works and i bought two other albums which are also good, but Spellbinder is my favourite.....it even has the vocal track 'Bang Bang- my baby shot me down ' on it, the famous track that was used, on the movie Kill Bill.

One of my favourite Jazz Guitar albums. By Grant Green.

This album, heard at a friend's house in the late 60s, left an indelible memory. I decided to seek it out to find out whether it was as good as I remembered. The answer is yes. It's not just Szabo's guitar, but the accompaniment and recording, as well: Ron Carter, bass; Rudy Van Gelder, engineer, Bob Thiele, producer. The latin percussion is likewise mesmerizing. Wonderful. By InTents.

Many rock listeners who graduated to jazz will have picked up the scent, so to speak, of Gabor Szabo; he was the composer of the "Gypsy Queen", played by Santana on the extraordinary first side of "Abraxas".

Such listeners would have been disconcerted, perhaps, when they heard this, as I was, many years ago. Szabo's recording was only remotely connected in mood to the Santana performance. But, with time, I picked up on the excellence of the performance. A common transition when rock listeners made the transition to jazz, the bigger vehicle, the mother music of America, and increasingly, Europe.

Hungary has the same mythic connection to music as African America. Perhaps this is rubbish, harmless or insidious of limiting stereotype, I don't know. But Szabo (of damnably short life, dying in his forties in '82) was Hungarian, fleeing the country when the drunkards of the USSR cracked down on the opening in Budapest in 1956. By this time, the compatriot of Bartok and, in a different way, the "Gypsies" had discovered American jazz music. Itself an affront to the Communists.

So America got Szabo. What there is of "Gypsy" here, I'm not sure. The exotic element is the Latin American percussion: there are two Latin percussionists here, the entirety driven by the machine beat of the great Chico Hamilton, who had previously featured Szabo on one of his unpredictable albums. At that time, Szabo and Hamilton were associated with Charles Lloyd, the tenor saxophonist. Lloyd is absent on "Spellbinder", a relief to this listener; I find his alternate copyings of Coltrane and Ornette Coleman cloying, and as domineering as Flip Phillip's excursions on "Jazz at the Philharmonic".

This is a minimalist, percussion-dominated record. The great bassist Ron Carter stays in the background here, and the leader himself, using a wooden guitar with pickup (I think), plays remarkably but subtly throughout, no guitargoddism here. Because the only soloist plays for the music, not the solo (rather like Miles Davis), a second soloist (reed, or perhaps a violin) isn't missed.

He's most at home playing his own compositions, but does reasonably well on standards, "My foolish heart", in this case. The Sonny Bono number succeeds, too, over the whole, but I'm sorry to say that I could have done without the singing. Szabo isn't a bad singer, but it seemed to me out of place.

My copy is a Japanese import. Very good sound, over the whole; it wouldn't have been hard to record this properly, and not hard to remaster, I wouldn't think. Good job, in any case, though I think it could be said that the bass (Ron Carter) isn't quite properly salient. By (((Marco Buendia))).

Track listing:

All compositions by Gábor Szabó except as indicated

1 "Spellbinder" - 5:30
2 "Witchcraft" (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) - 4:39
3 "It Was a Very Good Year" (Ervin Drake) - 2:47
4 "Gypsy Queen" - 5:13
5 "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" (Sonny Bono) - 2:28
6 "Cheetah" - 4:10
7 "My Foolish Heart" (Ned Washington, Victor Young) - 5:28
8 "Yearning" - 2:59
9 "Autumn Leaves/Speak to Me of Love" (Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prévert, Johnny Mercer/Jean Lenoir) - 3:35

Personnel:

Gábor Szabó - guitar, vocals
Ron Carter - bass
Chico Hamilton – drums
Willie Bobo, Victor Pantoja - percussion

Various Artists - 1999 "Milestones" - The Jazz Giants Play Miles Davis

This entry in the Jazz Giants series finds a host of the genre's biggest names interpreting a batch of Miles Davis tunes with nice results. Most everything from the song list comes from the bluesy side of the Davis catalog, kicking off with a reflective, highly swinging take on "Vierd Blues" with nice solos from Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass. Dexter Gordon brings back a tune from bop's 1940s heyday, an alternate take of "Milestones," a track that also features nice work from Freddie Hubbard doubling on trumpet and flugelhorn. Sonny Stitt and Grant Green add fireworks to "Tune Up," Bill Evans turns in a sprawling version of "So What," and Chet Baker contributes an atmospheric take on Davis' "Solar."

Keeping true to the sobriquet "jazz giants," this collection features stellar performances from Wes Montgomery, Hampton Hawes, Shelly Manne, Ray Brown, Don Ellis, Eric Dolphy, Phineas Newborn Jr., Ray Bryant, Philly Joe Jones, and Ron Affif, along with two tracks featuring Davis himself in the company of Charlie Parker (in a rare appearance on tenor sax): "Compulsion" and "The Serpent's Tooth." Like the other entries in this series, this is top-flight jazz played by the best, honoring one of the true trailblazers of the music -- a winning combination every note of the way.

 Track listing / Artists

01     –Oscar Peterson     Vierd Blues     6:42
02     –Dexter Gordon     Milestones (Alternate)     7:09
03     –Bill Evans     So What     6:47
04     –Sonny Stitt     Tune-Up     4:24
05     –Chet Baker     Solar     5:49
06     –Hampton Hawes     Blue In Green     5:25
07     –Wes Montgomery     Freddie Freeloader     5:14
08     –Don Ellis     Nardis     4:34
09     –Miles Davis     Compulsion     5:43
10     –Phineas Newborn Jr.     Four     4:53
11     –Miles Davis     The Serpent's Tooth (Take 1)     7:00
12     –Ray Bryant     All Blues     8:24
13     –Ron Affif     Seven Steps To Heaven     3:02

Pat Martino - 1967 [2007] El Hombre

El Hombre is the debut album by guitarist Pat Martino recorded in 1967 and released on the Prestige label

Guitarist Pat Martino's debut as a leader finds the 22-year-old showing off his roots in soul-jazz organ groups while looking ahead at the same time. Joined by organist Trudy Pitts, flutist Danny Turner, drummer Mitch Fine, and both Abdu Johnson and Vance Anderson on percussion, Martino primarily plays a straight-ahead set (five of his originals, "Just Friends," and "Once I Loved"), but already displays a fairly distinctive sound. This CD reissue brings back Martino's impressive start to what would be a productive solo career.

Pat Martino was just 22 when he stepped through the hallowed doors of Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs studio to record his first date as a leader. A veteran of a series of great bands—particularly the organ groups of Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, and Richard Groove Holmes—the kid knew the blues. And he had speed.

El Hombre is an organ-drenched speedfest that shows off this Philly kid’s ability to play soulfully, spinning out seemingly endless solos shot through with blue notes, flatted fifths, and thirty-second runs. It was Martino’s calling card, and this was his party. And it is, appropriately, a good time.

The Martino story can’t be told without a mention of his 1980 brain aneurysm, which resulted in amnesia and a total loss of his legendary guitar skills. In the following seven years, Martino listened to his own records and retaught himself how to play, renewing his astonishing technique and bringing to it the sheen of experience. You imagine that, in copping his own riffs, Pat Martino could have done no better than listening to El Hombre at great length.

The personnel on this debut is neither imposing nor disappointing. Trudy Pitts is (to this day) a strong Philly Hammond player, and here she gets to devise dozens of settings for Martino’s taking-on-the-word sound. Danny Turner, from McDuff’s group, plays tasty flute on some selections. Mitch Fine is the drummer, with two-hand percussion on board for flavor on tunes that swing in three, four, and six. The band keeps up with the kid, and that’s plenty.

In 1967 Martino came out of the bag with a rich history of recent style-changing players—always-always Wes Montgomery, but also Grant Green and Kenny Burrell. Martino sounds in some ways like his contemporary, George Benson, in the fluid way that he translates Montgomery’s impulses into something more insistent and, if possible, prettier. On a Latin treatment of Jobim’s “Once I Loved”, Martino plays Wes-style octaves, but he also unfurls gorgeous runs that start on the low E-string and push upward like rising water. On “A Blues for Mickey-O”, Martino is smack-dab in the center of the blues, and he has the wisdom not to rush too much. His solo quickly gets into the effective use of repeated phrases, and he makes a point of not playing more fancy bop changes than a straight blues can bear. There’s just enough bite to his attack that you hear something contemporary, but there are also echoes of old tunes such as “Teach Me Tonight”. When he moves to the Wes octaves again for a couple of climaxing choruses, it feels alright.

More often, though, there is the young cat’s incredible speed. On “Waltz for Geri”, Martino seems to have a bottomless bag of ideas, and he yanks them out one after the other without seeming to take a breath. Amazingly few of them sound like regurgitated practice patterns. Rather, they come out like shards of potential songs, actual compositions in motion. No other soloist dares to play on the song.
The title track is a tune in 6/8 that may even be slightly faster. The melody is articulated as harmony with the flute, with the hand percussion percolating beneath as incitement to riot. Martino comes out of the gate with harmonic invention and rhythm on his mind, wrapping licks around the insistent organ figure with abandon. The flute solo adds color and precision before the tight melody returns. “Cisco” and “One for Rose” swing up-tempo too, in four, with the same formula making for great listening. “Just Friends” drops the flute but also gallops through the changes, with Martino playing as fluently as on any blues. When he rips down from a high note with a small edge of distortion amidst the speed, you’re able to recapture what must have seemed so special about this kid in 1967—he was an unabashed jazz guitarist who played with a youthful abandon without seeming to defect from the tradition.

There is one previously unissued track on the end of El Hombre this time out, a Martino ballad called “Song for my Mother”. Pitts sounds a bit overdramatic here, coloring the very slow melody, and Turner’s flute seems out of place playing unison with Martino on such a lugubrious line. Still, when Martino begins to solo, there is gold in the way he rises up into a chord and, later, when he gently swings the band with octaves. This kind of track is never what this flag-waving album is going to be remembered for, but it’s good to know that the young Philly axe-wielder has more on his mind than the Indy 500.
As always, Rudy Van Gelder’s sound is exceptional, and the remastering keeps the album crisp and urgent. Today, Pat Martino is fully recovered from his amnesia and playing better than ever. El Hombre deserves to be heard by new fans as well as old ones. Many a young guitarist today will be stunned and jealous, I’m sure, of how fresh this 40 year-old music still sounds.

Track listing

All compositions by Pat Martino except as indicated

1. "Waltz for Geri" - 6:21
2. "Once I Loved" (Ray Gilbert, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes) - 5:42
3. "El Hombre" - 5:57
4. "Cisco" - 4:29
5. "One for Rose" - 4:54
6. "A Blues for Mickey-O" - 8:02
7. "Just Friends" (John Klenner, Sam M. Lewis) - 5:47

Personnel

• Pat Martino - guitar
• Danny Turner - flute
• Trudy Pitts - organ
• Mitch Fine - drums
• Vance Anderson - bongos
• Abdu Johnson - congas

Jeff Coffin Mu'tet - 2008 "mUtoPIA"

A member of roots-fusion mavericks Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, GRAMMY-award winning saxophonist Jeff Coffin is one of the world’s most visible hornmen. As his insightful yet incendiary playing with the Flecktones demonstrates, Coffin possesses the rare ability to fuse the improvisational intensity of modern jazz with a wide range of influences.

Aided by an all-star cast of jazz, jam, bluegrass, and funk musicians, Jeff Coffin explores an impressive variety of textures and styles, gracing each with his peerless energy, musicianship, and technique. On Mutopia, Coffin presents the most complete picture yet of his eclectic musical vision. Two steps beyond an otherworldly fusion of Ornette Coleman, The Meters, and Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Mutopia puts Jeff Coffin at the forefront of a new generation of improvising musicians for whom boundaries are meaningless and everyone is invited to the party.

Jeff Coffin's work with Béla Fleck's Flecktones has only been somewhat reflective of his efforts as a leader. The saxophonist/composer is quite able in a more progressive, accessibly contemporary style to express his personalized music, which is in many ways substantive and cleverly rendered. While recent efforts have veered toward a commercialized approach, this CD with his Mu'tet bears distinct elements of the Jazz Crusaders and the first bands of Derek Trucks. No doubt the addition of a stout horn section on a few selections, and collaboration with the keyboardist and flute player Kofi Burbridge -- well known for his work with the Trucks band -- has a lot to do with how this group reacts and responds. All in all, there's some very hip music here, ranging from the 7/4 funk with dual electric bass guitarists on "Al's Greens" including a banjo solo from boss man Fleck, to "Move Your Rug" with varying beats in six and seven mixing up the complicated and simplistic horns with a New Orleans beat. The outstanding, developed, dramatic, Middle Eastern flavored "L'Esperance" is introduced by Coffin's resplendent, floating mbira, then his tenor sax and flute foreshadowed Burbridge's desert-to-jungle flute solo. "Turiya" is a calm, serene, and beautiful tribute to the late Alice Coltrane with Coffin on soprano sax and Burbridge on acoustic grand piano. The molasses slow "Sweet Magnolias" offers a legitimate blues framework for Coffin's legato tenor, and a bonus track, "Emma Ya," is a soul deep, light reggae tune. Trombonists Barry Green or Roy Agee are added for the funk-with-a twist track "Tag" or the Stax style soul pop cut "One In, One Out" respectively, with Burbridge jammin' on the Hammond B-3 organ. Agee, trumpeter Rod McGaha, and sousaphonist Joe Murphy expand the horizons of "Move Your Rug." Also present is electric bass guitarist Felix Pastorius, one of the twin sons of the legendary Jaco Pastorius, and fellow Flecktone, drummer Roy "Future Man" Wooten. The collective energy, team work, and top-drawer ability of Coffin, not to mention the diversity of the recording, is hard to deny. This might be the best effort yet for the Mu'tet, top to bottom.

When saxophonist Jeff Coffin joined Béla Fleck & the Flecktones in 1997, he righted their ship. That quartet had released three stellar CDs during 1990-1992, but when original keyboardist/harmonica player Howard Levy left, a void was created. The remaining trio of Fleck (banjo), Victor Wooten (bass) and Futureman (drum synthesizer) drifted before Coffin contributed to Grammy-winning comebacks from Outbound (2000) to The Hidden Land (2006).

Like all Flecktones, Coffin is better suited within that ace improvising quartet than on his own, yet two new solo projects point out his versatility. Coffin’s latest self-titled Mu’tet release improves upon his handful of preceding solo CDs, mainly because of his surrounding, interactive cast. Arc of the Circle, with keyboardist Charlie Peacock, is its polar opposite, an improvisational blend of modern classical and ECM-like influences.

On Mutopia, Futureman (Roy Wooten, Victor’s brother) plays acoustic drums throughout, rather than his guitar-shaped electric SynthAxe, and Fleck and Wooten appear on one track each. But it isn’t the Flecktones’ presence that makes Mutopia tick. Fleck’s cameo is on “Bubble Up,” a buoyant number in 7/8 time that’s highlighted by the Hammond organ lines of Kofi Burbridge (who adds piano and flute elsewhere) and Coffin’s two-man horn section with trombonist Roy Agee. On the dreamy “Al’s Greens,” Wooten trades solos with primary bassist Felix Pastorius, the 26-year-old son of late bass great Jaco. Their exchanges are so seamless that it’s difficult to tell them apart-no small feat, considering Wooten’s musical athleticism.

Coffin plays tenor, alto and baritone saxes on the New Orleans-tinged pieces “One In, One Out” and “Move Your Rug.” The saxophonist, who also plays soprano, flute and percussion, must be given additional credit for the coming-out party of Pastorius, the bravest young musician since Ravi Coltrane took up saxophone. Futureman’s dexterity on actual drums, and Burbridge’s all-purpose playing, add to a CD worthy of Flecktones comparisons.

Arc of the Circle merits no such comparisons, but that’s by design. Coffin and Peacock (who plays piano, synthesizer, Wurlitzer and toy piano) completely improvised the basic tracks before Marc Ribot (electric and resonator guitars), Tony Miracle (electronics and laptop computer) and guest players contributed to the derangements. Peacock may be best known as a producer who’s covered a wide spectrum from Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe to Amy Grant. He uses both grand and toy piano on the opening title track, engaging Coffin’s tenor sax into a game of musical tag.

Ribot and drummer Derrek Phillips contribute heavily to the subsequent, nearly accessible “Rice Dice Mice,” but most of the remaining pieces purposely avoid having a rhythmic anchor. Phillips plays on two other abstract pieces, “Downstairs Room of You” and “Redux: Porky, Boots and Floyd.” The remainder is mostly freeform Peacock and Coffin (on tenor, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute and percussion). If your tastes run toward the Flecktones, Mutopia is the choice of these two releases; if you lean toward free jazz and Charles Ives, it’s Arc of the Circle.

Track listing:

1 Tag 3:29
2 Al's Greens 7:25
3 Bubble Up 5:26
4 One In, One Out 6:06
5 Turiya 10:14
6 L'Esperance 7:49
7 Sweet Magnolias 9:19
8 Move Your Rug 7:18
9 Emma Ya (Hidden Track)

Personnel:

Saxophone, Flute – Jeff Coffin
Drum – Roy Wooten
Electric Bass – Felix Pastorius
Piano, Organ, Keyboards, Flute – Kofi Burbridge
Guest – Alana Rocklin, Barry Green, Black Cat Sylvester, Béla Fleck, Chris Walters (5), Doug Belote, Pat Bergeson, R. Scott Bryan, Rod McGaha, Roy Agee, Victor Wooten