Guitarist
Grant Green was a mainstay of the Blue Note label in its heyday, with around twenty albums as a leader. Historically overshadowed, perhaps, by the celebrated Wes Montgomery, Green’s pungent playing and jazz/funk orientation have proved influential with guitarists of all stripes. Resonance Records, in their quest to ferret out unknown but high quality performances, have come up with a bounty of Grant Green music with
Funk In France: From Paris To Antibes (1969-1970), a two-CD set that also features a guest appearance by Barney Kessel, and
Slick! Live At Oil Can Harry’s, taken from a 1975 club date in Vancouver, British Columbia. Sourced from the French radio archive, the Paris show in October 1969 takes up most of disc 1. Featured are tunes penned by James Brown, Sonny Rollins, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Charles Trenet, plus an untitled blues. How’s that for an eclectic sequence! Green was recording exclusively on organ sessions that year. His bandmates in Paris, bassist Larry Ridley and drummer Don Lamond, were playing across Europe in late 1969 with
Newport In Europe. On stages across Europe, the two were backing a rotating cast that included Barney Kessel, Red Norvo, and Stéphane Grappelli, when they played this show with Green. Their support here is impeccable. Green is playing really well, with a dazzling
Insensatez and a limber excursion on
Sonnymoon For Two. When fellow guitarist Kessel joins the trio, they elect to play
I Wish You Love. It’s a beautifully subdued treatment of the song, which was composed by Charles Trenet, and introduced in 1942 in France. Transplanted to the US with English lyrics as the title track to a Keely Smith album in 1957, it’s a singularly appropriate song for Americans to play in Paris. With the last track on disc one, the first version of Green’s own
Upshot, we skip forward about nine months to his appearances at the Antibes Jazz Festival. This time, Green is playing with his own quartet of Claude Bartee on tenor, Clarence Palmer on organ, and Billy Wilson on drums. In the looser confines of the Antibes stage, the band has a chance to stretch out. And they came ready to burn. The eighteen minutes of the July 18 take of
Upshot zoom by in a flash. The second disc includes just three numbers. The quartet’s rendition of the soul hit
Hurt So Bad, also from the July 18 show, is followed by two pieces from a performance on July 20.
Upshot expands to nearly twenty minutes, and the finale, a deeply soulful version of
Hi-Heel Sneakers, rocks the house for over twenty-seven minutes. Always happy to play for enthusiastic audiences, Green plays very energetically throughout. Resonance’s typically exhaustive 48-page booklet includes interviews, rare photos and some of original producer Andre Francis’ notes contemporaneous notes from the shows. The label talked to Green’s guitar-playing son Grant Green, Jr., and musicians Dr. Lonnie Smith, Clarence Palmer, and Eric Krasno. There are also liner notes by Michael Cuscuna and Pascal Rozat, plus an introduction by reissue producer Zev Feldman.
Move forward another five years to Vancouver, for a quintet gig
Live At Oil Can Harry’s. The tapes come from Vancouver disc jockey Gary Barclay saved from his radio station job at the now-defunct CHQM-FM in Vancouver. We hear his voice at the beginning of the disc, introducing the set and reminding the crowd that they could hear it on the radio the following week. Green himself introduces the first tune by the quintet, a deep dive into Charlie Parker’s classic blues,
Now’s The Time. Next up is another version of Jobim’s
Insensatez, a piece that Green evidently enjoyed playing. Starting with a tender opening by an unaccompanied Green, the piece takes up nearly a half hour. The tasteful playing of Emmanuel Riggins on electric piano, Ronnie Ware on electric bass, Greg “Vibrations” Williams on drums, and Gerald Izzard on percussion gives Green plenty of textured support for his extended flights of fancy. A curious and lengthy medley ends the night. Starting with Stanley Clarke’s
Vulcan Princess, this epic jam moves on to
Skin Tight, a hit for the Ohio Players, Bobby Womack’s
Woman’s Gotta Have It, and Stevie Wonder’s
Boogie On Reggae Woman, before ending up with
For the Love of Money, originally by the O’Jays. With bassist Ware leading the way, the music wades deeply into funk, with crowd-pleasing results. Green, who was without a record label in this period, is in fine form for this show. Once again, Resonance has put together a 48-page booklet, this time including an introductory essay by producer Zev Feldman, contemporaneous interviews that Barclay did with Green and electric pianist Emmanuel Riggins, the DJ’s reminiscence of the gig, conversations with Grant Green’s son Greg (also a guitarist), fellow guitarists Jacques Lesure and Perry Hughes, and an essay by A. Scott Galloway about Green and this performance. There are also a batch of photographs taken during the Green band’s sojourn in Vancouver. Maybe getting three hours of excellent “new” music on the market will raise Green’s profile to the high rank that he deserves. Both releases are highly recommended.
Paris/Antibes:
Resonance HCD-2033; Grant Green (g) with [Paris] Larry Ridley (b) Don Lamond (d) Barney Kessel (g on *) & [Antibes] Claude Bartee (ts) Clarence Palmer (org) Billy Wilson (d);
Disc 1 (56:39): Paris, France, October 16, 1969: I Don’t Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door I’ll Get It Myself)/ Oleo/ How Insensitive (Insensatez)/ Untitled Blues/ Sonnymoon For Two/ I Wish You Love*. Antibes, France, July 18 or 20, 1970: Upshot.
Disc 2 (61:38): Hurt So Bad (July 18)/ Upshot (July 20)/ Hi-Heel Sneakers (July 20).
Oil Can Harry’s:
Resonance HCD-2034; Grant Green (g) Emmanuel Riggins (el p) Ronnie Ware (b) Greg “Vibrations” Williams (d) Gerald Izzard (perc); Vancouver, BC, September 5, 1975; Now’s the Time/ How Insensitive (Insensatez)/ Medley (Vulcan Princess/ Skin Tight/ Woman’s Gotta Have It/ Boogie On Reggae Woman/ For the Love of Money); 67:05.
www.resonancerecords.org
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