Grant Green: Green Street (Blue Note Classic Vinyl series) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl series edition is mastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180g vinyl. AllMusic called Green Street one of Grant Green's best recordings.

This edition

• Blue Note Classic Vinyl series
• Mastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray
• 180g vinyl
• Pressed in Germany
• Stereo mix

About the album

A guitar trio leaves nowhere to hide, which suited Grant Green perfectly. On April 1, 1961, the St. Louis guitarist walked into Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with just Ben Tucker on bass and Dave Bailey on drums, and Alfred Lion let the tapes roll.

Green played single lines like a horn player, clean, bluesy and endlessly swinging, and the stripped-down setting puts every phrase in the spotlight. "No. 1 Green Street" is a relaxed, strutting blues, Monk's "'Round Midnight" gets a patient, late-night reading, and "Grant's Dimensions" lets him stretch out. Side B pairs the bright "Green With Envy" with a gorgeous take on the standard "Alone Together." With no piano to fill the gaps, Tucker and Bailey keep the pulse light and steady, leaving Green all the room he wants. It's a masterclass in saying a lot with very few notes.

DownBeat reviewed it that December, and guitarists have been studying it ever since. Green Street, by Grant Green, with "Green With Envy" on side B; nobody at Blue Note was letting a good theme go to waste.

Also at Kops: more Grant Green on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note (cat# 5524263), a reissue of the 1961 album.