Grant Green
Encyclopedia
Grant Green was a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 and composer.

Recording prolifically and almost exclusively for Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...

 (as both leader and sideman) Green performed well in hard bop
Hard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...

, soul jazz
Soul jazz
Soul jazz is a development of jazz incorporating strong influences from blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues in music for small groups, often an organ trio featuring a Hammond organ.- Overview :Soul jazz is often associated with hard bop. Mark C...

, bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...

 and Latin
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...

-tinged settings throughout his career. Critics Michael Erlewine
Michael Erlewine
Michael Erlewine is an American musician, astrologer, and Internet entrepreneur who founded All Music Guide in 1991.- Background :...

 and Ron Wynn
Ron Wynn
Ron Wynn is a music critic, author, and allmusic editor. Wynn was the editor of the first edition of The All Music Guide to Jazz , and from 1993 to 1994 served as the jazz and rap editor of the All Music Guide. Wynn is the former editor of New Memphis Star and the former chief jazz and pop music...

 write, "A severely underrated player during his lifetime, Grant Green is one of the great unsung heroes of jazz guitar ... Green's playing is immediately recognizable -- perhaps more than any other guitarist." Critic Dave Hunter described his sound as "lithe, loose, slightly bluesy and righteously groovy". He often performed in an organ trio
Organ trio
An organ trio, in a jazz context, is a group of three jazz musicians, typically consisting of a Hammond organ player, a drummer, and either a jazz guitarist or a saxophone player. In some cases the saxophonist will join a trio which consists of an organist, guitarist, and drummer, making it a quartet...

, a small group with an organ and drummer.

Apart from Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian
Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...

, Green's primary influences were saxophonists, particularly Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

, and his approach was therefore almost exclusively linear rather than chordal. The simplicity and immediacy of Green's playing, which tended to avoid chromaticism, derived from his early work playing rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 and, although at his best he achieved a synthesis of this style with bop, he was essentially a blues guitarist and returned almost exclusively to this style in his later career. Green used a Gibson ES-330
Gibson ES-330
The Gibson ES-330 is a thinline hollowbody electric guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.Though similar in appearance to the popular Gibson ES-335 semi-hollow guitar, the ES-330 was a fairly different guitar in construction and sound...

, then a Gibson L7 with a Gibson McCarty pickguard/pick-up, an Epiphone
Epiphone
The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Musical Instrument Company, which also owned Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop market...

 Emperor (with the same pick-up) and finally had a custom built D'Aquisto. George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....

 said he would turn all the bass and treble off the amp, and max the midrange. This way he could get his signature punchy, biting tone.

Biography

Green was born in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

. He first performed in a professional setting at the age of 12. His influences were Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian
Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...

, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

, Ike Quebec
Ike Quebec
Ike Quebec was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. His surname is pronounced KYOO-bek.Critic Alex Henderson wrote, "Though he was never an innovator, Quebec had a big, breathy sound that was distinctive and easily recognizable, and he was quite consistent when it came to down-home blues, sexy...

, Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....

, Jimmy Raney
Jimmy Raney
Jimmy Raney was an American jazz guitarist born in Louisville, Kentucky most notable for his work from 1951–1952 and 1962–1963 with Stan Getz and for his work from 1953–1954 with the Red Norvo trio, replacing Tal Farlow. In 1954 and 1955 he won the Down Beat critics poll for guitar...

, Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith (musician)
Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...

 and Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

, he first played boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie (music)
Boogie-woogie is a style of piano-based blues that became popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but originated much earlier, and was extended from piano, to three pianos at once, guitar, big band, and country and western music, and even gospel. Whilst the blues traditionally depicts a variety...

 before moving on to jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

. His first recordings in St. Louis were with tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest
Jimmy Forrest
Jimmy Forrest was an African American jazz musician, who played tenor saxophone throughout his career....

 for the Delmark
Delmark Records
Delmark Records is an independent American jazz and blues record label, based in Chicago since 1958. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when owner Bob Koester released a recording of the Windy City Six, a traditional jazz group, under the "Delmar" imprint.-History:Born in 1932 in...

 label. The drummer in the band was Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....

, later the powerhouse behind John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

. Grant recorded with Elvin again in the early Sixties
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

. Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...

 discovered Grant playing in a bar in St. Louis. After touring together with Donaldson, Grant arrived in New York around 1959-60.

Lou Donaldson introduced Grant to Alfred Lion
Alfred Lion
Alfred Lion was a Jewish German-born American record executive who co-founded Blue Note Records in 1939 Blue Note recorded many of the biggest names in jazz throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.-Biography:...

 of Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...

. Lion was so impressed with Grant that, rather than testing Grant as a sideman, as was the usual Blue Note practice, Lion arranged for him to record as a bandleader first. Green's initial recording session went unreleased until 2001, however, owing to a lack of confidence on Green's behalf. http://www.audio-ideas.com/columns/grant-green.html []

Despite the shelving of his first session, Green's recording relationship with Lion and Blue Note was to last, with a few exceptions, throughout the Sixties. From 1961 to 1965, Grant made more appearances on Blue Note LPs
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

, as leader or sideman, than anyone else. Grant's first issued album as a leader was Grant's First Stand. This was followed in the same year by Green Street and Grantstand
Grantstand
Grantstand is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded and released on the Blue Note label in 1961. The CD reissue features one bonus track from the same session.-Reception:...

. Grant was named best new star in the Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...

critics' poll, 1962, and, as a result, his influence spread wider than New York. He often provided support to the other important musicians on Blue Note, including saxophonists Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...

, Ike Quebec
Ike Quebec
Ike Quebec was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. His surname is pronounced KYOO-bek.Critic Alex Henderson wrote, "Though he was never an innovator, Quebec had a big, breathy sound that was distinctive and easily recognizable, and he was quite consistent when it came to down-home blues, sexy...

, Stanley Turrentine
Stanley Turrentine
Stanley William Turrentine, also known as "Mr. T" or "The Sugar Man", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Turrentine was born in Pittsburgh's Hill District into a musical family...

 and Harold Vick
Harold Vick
Harold Vick was an American hard bop and soul jazz saxophonist and flautist born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina....

, as well as organist Larry Young
Larry Young (jazz)
Larry Young Larry Young Larry Young (also known as Khalid Yasin (Abdul Aziz) (October 7, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey—March 30, 1978 in New York City) was an American jazz organist and occasional pianist. Young pioneered a modal approach to the Hammond B-3 (in contrast to Jimmy Smith's...

.

Sunday Mornin' , The Latin Bit and Feelin' the Spirit are all loose concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

s, each taking a musical theme or style: Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 and spiritual
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...

s respectively. Grant always carried off his more commercial dates with artistic success during this period. Idle Moments
Idle Moments
Idle Moments is a 1964 jazz album by guitarist Grant Green. The album, released on Blue Note, features performances by Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Blue Note in-house producer Duke Pearson on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Al Harewood on drums.The album is best...

(1963), featuring Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than forty years Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note.-Early life:From a very large family with five sisters and nine...

 and Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson is a jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His vibraphone playing is suggestive of the style of Milt Jackson in its free-flowing melodicism, but his sense of harmony and group interaction is thoroughly modern...

, and Solid (1964), featuring the Coltrane rhythm section, are acclaimed as two of Grant's best recordings.

Many of Grant's recordings were not released during his lifetime. These include Matador, in which Grant is once again in the heavyweight company of the Coltrane rhythm section, and a series of sessions with pianist Sonny Clark
Sonny Clark
Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark was an American jazz pianist who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom.-Biography:...

. In 1966 Grant left Blue Note and recorded for several other labels, including Verve
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...

. From 1967 to 1969 Grant was, for the most part, inactive due to personal problems and the effects of heroin addiction. In 1969 Grant returned with a new funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

-influenced band. His recordings from this period include the commercially successful Green is Beautiful and the soundtrack to the film The Final Comedown
The Final Comedown
The Final Comedown is a 1972 blaxploitation drama film written, produced and directed by Oscar Williams and starring Billy Dee Williams and D'Urville Martin. The film is an examination of racism in the United States and depicts a shootout between a radical black nationalist group and the police,...

. Grant was also a huge influence on guitarists, from George Benson to Stevie Ray Vaughan. Still to this day guitarists try to get his signature sound, Idle Moments is consider one of the top 100 jazz albums of all time.

Grant left Blue Note again in 1974 and the subsequent recordings he made with other labels divide opinion: some consider Green to have been the 'Father of Acid Jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...

' (and his late recordings have been sampled by artists including US3
US3
Us3 is a jazz-rap group founded in London in 1991. Their name was inspired by a Horace Parlan recording produced by Alfred Lion, the founder of Blue Note Records. On their debut album, Hand on the Torch, Us3 used samples from the Blue Note Records catalogue, all originally produced by...

, A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...

 and Public Enemy), whilst others have dismissed them (Michael Cuscuna
Michael Cuscuna
Michael Cuscuna is an American jazz record producer and writer. He is a leading discographer of Blue Note Records....

 wrote in the sleeve notes for the album Matador that "During the 1970s he made some pretty lame records").

Grant spent much of 1978 in hospital and, against the advice of doctors, went back on the road to earn some money. While in New York to play an engagement at George Benson's Breezin' Lounge, Grant collapsed in his car of a heart attack in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on January 31, 1979. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, and was survived by six children. Since Green's demise, his reputation has grown to legendary status and many compilations of both his earlier (post-bop/straight ahead and soul jazz) and later (funkier/dancefloor jazz) periods, exist.

As leader

Blue Note Records
Release date Title
1961 First Session
First Session
First Session is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances by Green recorded in 1960 and 1961 but not released on the Blue Note label until 2001. The album features the first recordings made by Green for Blue Note which were held back from release in favour of a later...

1961 Grant's First Stand
Grant's First Stand
Grant's First Stand is the debut album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances by Green recorded and released on the Blue Note label in 1961...

1961 Green Street
Green Street (album)
Green Street is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded and released on the Blue Note label in 1961. The CD reissue features two alternate takes from the same session as bonus tracks.-Reception:...

1961 Sunday Mornin'
Sunday Mornin'
Sunday Mornin' is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded and released on the Blue Note label in 1961...

1961 Grantstand
Grantstand
Grantstand is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded and released on the Blue Note label in 1961. The CD reissue features one bonus track from the same session.-Reception:...

1961 Remembering
Remembering (Grant Green album)
Remembering is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1961 and released on the Japanese Blue Note label. The U.S...

1961 Gooden's Corner
Gooden's Corner
Gooden's Corner is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1961 and released on the Japanese Blue Note label...

1962 Nigeria
Nigeria (album)
Nigeria is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1962 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1980...

1962 Oleo
Oleo (album)
Oleo is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1962 and released on the Japanese Blue Note label...

1962 Born to Be Blue
Born to Be Blue (Grant Green album)
Born to Be Blue is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...

1962 The Latin Bit
The Latin Bit
The Latin Bit is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label. It is a loose concept album based around Latin American music.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G...

1962 Goin' West
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...

1962 Feelin' the Spirit
Feelin' the Spirit
Feelin' the Spirit is an album by jazz guitarist Grant Green originally issued on Blue Note Records as BLP 4132 and BST 84132. Consisting purely of jazz versions of African American spirituals, it is one of a series of theme records recorded by the guitarist in 1962.From the original liner notes:...

1963 Blues for Lou
Blues for Lou
Blues for Lou is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1963, but not released on the Blue Note label until 1999.-Reception:...

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

1963 Idle Moments
Idle Moments
Idle Moments is a 1964 jazz album by guitarist Grant Green. The album, released on Blue Note, features performances by Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Blue Note in-house producer Duke Pearson on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Al Harewood on drums.The album is best...

1964 Matador
Matador (Grant Green album)
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.-Reception:...

1964 Solid
Solid (Grant Green album)
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. The CD reissue included one bonus track.-Reception:...

1964 Talkin' About!
Talkin' About!
Talkin' About! is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...

1964 Street of Dreams
Street of Dreams (Grant Green album)
Street of Dreams is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...

1965 I Want to Hold Your Hand
I Want to Hold Your Hand (album)
I Want to Hold Your Hand is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1965 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...

1969 Carryin' On
Carryin' On
Carryin' On is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1969 and released on the Blue Note label. The album marked Green's return to the Blue Note label.-Reception:...

1970 Green Is Beautiful
Green Is Beautiful
Green Is Beautiful is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1970 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...

1970 Alive!
Alive! (Grant Green album)
Alive! is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring a performance recorded at the Cliche Lounge in Newark, New Jersey in 1970 and released on the Blue Note label. The album was Green's first official live recording...

1971 Live at Club Mozambique
Live at Club Mozambique
Live at Club Mozambique is a live album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring a performance recorded at the Club Mozambique in Detroit in 1970 and but not released on the Blue Note label until 2006.-Reception:...

1971 Visions
Visions (Grant Green album)
Visions is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1971 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...

1971 Shades of Green
Shades of Green (album)
Shades of Green is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1971 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...

1971 The Final Comedown
The Final Comedown (soundtrack)
The Final Comedown is a soundtrack album for the film The Final Comedown by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1971 and released on the Blue Note label...

1972 Live at The Lighthouse
Live at The Lighthouse (Grant Green album)
Live at The Lighthouse is a live album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring a performance recorded at the Lighthouse Club in Hermosa Beach, California in 1972 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...



Other labels
Release date Title Label Notes
1961 Reaching Out Black Lion Records
Black Lion Records
Black Lion Records was a jazz record label based in London, England.Black Lion was founded by Alan Bates in 1968. The label had two series of releases, one for British jazz musicians and one for international musicians...

Original release: Dave Bailey Quintet -Reaching Out (Jazztime JT-003). Later reissued by Grant Green as leader. Green Blues (Muse Records
Muse Records
Muse Records was an American record label which released jazz and blues music.Muse was founded in the early 1970s by Joe Fields, who had previously worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s...

-MR 5014) 1973 & later as Reaching Out (Black Lion Records
Black Lion Records
Black Lion Records was a jazz record label based in London, England.Black Lion was founded by Alan Bates in 1968. The label had two series of releases, one for British jazz musicians and one for international musicians...

-BLCD760129) 1989.
1965 His Majesty King Funk
His Majesty King Funk
- Personnel :*Grant Green - guitar*Harold Vick - tenor saxophone*Larry Young - organ*Ben Dixon - drums*Candido Camero - bongo and conga-Track listing:#"The Selma March" 08:26#"Willow Weep for Me" 10:02#"The Cantaloupe Woman" 04:56...

Verve
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...

1967 Iron City
Iron City (album)
Iron City is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1967 and released on the Cobblestone label in 1972.-Reception:...

Cobblestone
Cobblestone Records
Cobblestone Records was an American jazz record label.Cobblestone had two successive incarnations. The early one was in 1968-69 as a singles label, subsidiary of Buddah Records...

1976 The Main Attraction
The Main Attraction (Grant Green album)
The Main Attraction is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1976 and released on the Kudu label.-Reception:...

Kudu
1978 Easy
Easy (Grant Green album)
Easy is the final album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1978, a few months before his death, and released on the Versatile label.-Reception:...

Versatile

As sideman

1959
  • Jimmy Forrest
    Jimmy Forrest
    Jimmy Forrest was an African American jazz musician, who played tenor saxophone throughout his career....

     - All the Gin Is Gone (Delmark)
  • Jimmy Forrest - Black Forrest (Delmark)


1960
  • Sam Lazar
    Sam Lazar
    Sam Lazar was a pianist and Hammond organist originally from St. Louis, Missouri. His first LP on Argo Records approximates his birth year as 1933. Initially a pianist, Lazar played in Ernie Wilkins group before Wilkins left St. Louis to join Count Basie...

     - Space Flight (Argo)
  • Willie Dixon
    Willie Dixon
    William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...

     - Blues Roots Series, Vol. 12 (Chess)


1961
  • Lou Donaldson
    Lou Donaldson
    Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...

     - Here 'Tis
    Here 'Tis
    Here 'Tis is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson recorded for the Blue Note label in 1961 and performed by Donaldson with Baby Face Willette, Grant Green, and Dave Bailey....

    (Blue Note)
  • Baby Face Willette
    Baby Face Willette
    Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette was a hard bop and soul-jazz musician most known for playing Hammond organ. It is unclear whether he was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, or New Orleans, Louisiana...

     - Face to Face
    Face to Face (Baby Face Willette album)
    Face to Face is the debut album by American jazz organist Baby Face Willette featuring performances recorded and released on the Blue Note label in 1961.-Reception:...

    (Blue Note)
  • Baby Face Willette
    Baby Face Willette
    Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette was a hard bop and soul-jazz musician most known for playing Hammond organ. It is unclear whether he was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, or New Orleans, Louisiana...

     - Stop and Listen
    Stop and Listen
    Stop and Listen is the second album by American jazz organist Baby Face Willette featuring performances recorded and released on the Blue Note label in 1961.-Reception:...

    (Blue Note)
  • Brother Jack McDuff - The Honeydripper (Prestige)
  • Stanley Turrentine
    Stanley Turrentine
    Stanley William Turrentine, also known as "Mr. T" or "The Sugar Man", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Turrentine was born in Pittsburgh's Hill District into a musical family...

     - Up at "Minton's"
    Up at "Minton's"
    Up at "Minton's" is an live album by jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine recorded for the Blue Note label and performed by Turrentine with Grant Green, Horace Parlan, George Tucker, and Al Harewood...

    (Blue Note)
  • Dave Bailey
    Dave Bailey (musician)
    Samuel David "Dave" Bailey is an American jazz drummer.Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Bailey studied drumming in New York City at the Music Center Conservatory following his stint in the Air Force in World War II...

     - Reaching Out (Jazztime)
  • Hank Mobley
    Hank Mobley
    Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...

     - Workout
    Workout (album)
    Workout is an album by jazz tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley released on the Blue Note label in 1961. It features performances by Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Grant Green and Philly Joe Jones...

    (Blue Note)
  • Horace Parlan
    Horace Parlan
    Horace Parlan is an American hard bop and post-bop piano player.He is noted for his contributions to the classic Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots....

     - Up & Down
    Up & Down (album)
    Up & Down is the fourth album by American jazz pianist Horace Parlan featuring performances recorded in 1960 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...

    (Blue Note)
  • Brother Jack McDuff - Steppin' Out (Prestige)
  • Brother Jack McDuff - Goodnight, It's Time To Go (Prestige)
  • Stanley Turrentine - ZT's Blues
    ZT's Blues
    ZT's Blues is an album by jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine recorded for the Blue Note label in 1961 but not released until 1985 and performed by Turrentine with Tommy Flanagan, Grant Green, Paul Chambers, and Art Taylor.-Reception:...

    (Blue Note)
  • Lou Donaldson - A Man with a Horn
    A Man with a Horn
    A Man with a Horn is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson featuring sessions recorded for the Blue Note label in 1961 and 1963 , one performed by Donaldson with Brother Jack McDuff, Grant Green, and Joe Dukes, and one with Grant Green, Irvin Stokes, Big John Patton, and Ben Dixon.The album...

    (Blue Note)
  • Sonny Red
    Sonny Red
    Sonny Red was an American alto saxophonist associated with the hard bop idiom among other styles...

    /Grant Green/Barry Harris
    Barry Harris
    Barry Doyle Harris is an American bebop jazz pianist and educator.-Biography:Harris left Detroit for New York City in 1960...

     - The Mode (Jazzland)
  • Sonny Red - Images (Jazzland)
  • Ike Quebec
    Ike Quebec
    Ike Quebec was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. His surname is pronounced KYOO-bek.Critic Alex Henderson wrote, "Though he was never an innovator, Quebec had a big, breathy sound that was distinctive and easily recognizable, and he was quite consistent when it came to down-home blues, sexy...

     - Blue and Sentimental
    Blue and Sentimental
    Blue and Sentimental is a song written by Count Basie, Jerry Livingston, and Mack David and first recorded by Basie in 1938....

    (Blue Note)


1962
  • Joe Carroll - Man with a Happy Sound (Charlie Parker Records)
  • Dodo Greene - My Hour of Need (Blue Note)
  • Don Wilkerson
    Don Wilkerson
    Don Wilkerson was an American soul jazz / R&B tenor saxophonist born in Moreauville, Louisiana, probably better known for his Blue Note Records recordings in the 1960s as bandleader with guitarist Grant Green. Prior to signing with the label, he worked frequently with Cannonball Adderley...

     - Elder Don
    Elder Don
    Elder Don is an album by American saxophonist Don Wilkerson recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "records like this go a long way in proving that Wilkerson was one of the great underrated...

    (Blue Note)
  • Lou Donaldson - The Natural Soul
    The Natural Soul
    The Natural Soul is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson recorded for the Blue Note label in 1962 and performed by Donaldson with Grant Green, Tommy Turrentine, Big John Patton, and Ben Dixon....

    (Blue Note)
  • Don Wilkerson - Preach Brother!
    Preach Brother!
    Preach Brother! is an album by American saxophonist Don Wilkerson recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "The result is another fine record that proves Wilkerson was one of the best,...

    (Blue Note)


1963
  • Lou Donaldson - Good Gracious!
    Good Gracious!
    Good Gracious! is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson recorded for the Blue Note label in 1963 and performed by Donaldson with Grant Green, Big John Patton, and Ben Dixon....

    (Blue Note)
  • Jimmy Smith
    Jimmy Smith (musician)
    Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...

     - I'm Movin' On
    I'm Movin' On (Jimmy Smith album)
    I'm Movin' On is an album by American jazz organist Jimmy Smith featuring performances recorded in 1963 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1967...

    (Blue Note)
  • Jimmy Smith - Special Guests (Blue Note Japan)
  • Booker Ervin
    Booker Ervin
    Booker Telleferro Ervin II was an American tenor saxophone player. He was perhaps best known for his association with bassist Charles Mingus....

     - Back from the Gig (Blue Note)
  • Herbie Hancock
    Herbie Hancock
    Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...

     - My Point of View
    My Point of View
    My Point of View is the second album by pianist Herbie Hancock. It was released in 1963 on Blue Note Records as BLP 4126 and BST 84126.-Track listing:All compositions by Herbie Hancock.#"Blind Man, Blind Man" – 8:19#"A Tribute to Someone" – 8:45...

    (Blue Note)
  • Horace Parlan
    Horace Parlan
    Horace Parlan is an American hard bop and post-bop piano player.He is noted for his contributions to the classic Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots....

     - Happy Frame of Mind
    Happy Frame of Mind
    Happy Frame of Mind is the seventh album by American jazz pianist Horace Parlan featuring performances recorded in 1961 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1988...

    (Blue Note)
  • "Big" John Patton
    John Patton (musician)
    John Patton , sometimes nicknamed Big John Patton, was a hard bop and soul jazz organist....

     - Along Came John
    Along Came John
    Along Came John is the debut album by American organist John Patton recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4 stars and stated "These original compositions may not all be memorable, but the band's interaction,...

    (Blue Note)
  • Gloria Coleman
    Gloria Coleman
    Gloria Coleman was an American musician.Coleman played bass, piano then organ. As a jazz organist she released two albums. The first, Soul Sisters, by the Gloria Coleman Quartet was for the Impulse! Records label. It featured drummer Pola Roberts, Leo Wright and Grant Green. It was produced by...

     - Soul Sisters
    Soul Sisters
    Soul Sisters is an album by American jazz organist Gloria Coleman featuring Pola Roberts recorded in 1963 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...

    (Impulse!)
  • Harold Vick
    Harold Vick
    Harold Vick was an American hard bop and soul jazz saxophonist and flautist born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina....

     - Steppin' Out!
    Steppin' Out! (Harold Vick album)
    Steppin' Out! is the debut album by American saxophonist Harold Vick recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "There are no real surprises, but no disappointments either on what would be Harold Vick's...

    (Blue Note)
  • "Big" John Patton - Blue John
    Blue John (album)
    Blue John is an album by American organist John Patton recorded in 1963 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1986.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Steve Huey awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "While the grooving interplay between Patton, Green, and Dixon is as instinctive as ever,...

    (Blue Note)
  • Don Wilkerson - Shoutin'
    Shoutin'
    Shoutin' is an album by American saxophonist Don Wilkerson recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4 stars and stated "the high quality of the music on this album, as well as Wilkerson's other three records,...

    (Blue Note)
  • George Braith
    George Braith
    George Braith is a soul-jazz saxophonist from New York.Braith is known for playing multiple horns at once, a technique pioneered by Roland Kirk...

     - Two Souls in One
    Two Souls in One
    Two Souls in One is the debut album by American saxophonist George Braith recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...

    (Blue Note)
  • Mary Lou Williams
    Mary Lou Williams
    Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Williams wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements, and recorded more than one hundred records...

     - Black Christ of the Andes (Saba/MPS)
  • George Braith - Soulstream
    Soulstream (George Braith album)
    Soulstream is the second album by American saxophonist George Braith recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4 stars and stated "Soul Stream finds George Braith coming into his own...

    (Blue Note)
  • Bobby Hutcherson
    Bobby Hutcherson
    Bobby Hutcherson is a jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His vibraphone playing is suggestive of the style of Milt Jackson in its free-flowing melodicism, but his sense of harmony and group interaction is thoroughly modern...

     - The Kicker
    The Kicker (Bobby Hutcherson album)
    The Kicker is an album by American jazz vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson recorded in 1963 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1999.-Reception:...

    (Blue Note)


1964
  • Lee Morgan
    Lee Morgan
    Edward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...

     - Search for the New Land
    Search for the New Land
    Search for the New Land is an album by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan. A hard bop set with a group of well-known jazz musicians, Search for the New Land was recorded before The Sidewinder was released and is considered more abstract than its popular predecessor...

    (Blue Note)
  • George Braith - Extension
    Extension (album)
    Extension is the third album by American saxophonist George Braith recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "George Braith turned in his strongest record with Extension...

    (Blue Note)
  • "Big" John Patton - The Way I Feel
    The Way I Feel (John Patton album)
    The Way I Feel is an album by American organist John Patton recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 3 stars and stated "There are several fine moments on the record, and Green and Patton are typically...

    (Blue Note)
  • Larry Young - Into Somethin'
    Into Somethin'
    Into Somethin' is an album by jazz organist Larry Young, released on the Blue Note label.The album is Young's debut for Blue Note records, featuring Grant Green and Elvin Jones, with both of whom he had previously recorded under Green's name...

    (Blue Note)
  • Donald Byrd
    Donald Byrd
    Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...

     - I'm Tryin' to Get Home
    I'm Tryin' to Get Home
    I'm Tryin' to Get Home is an album by American trumpeter Donald Byrd featuring performances by Byrd with a large brass section and vocalists recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label in 1965 as BLP 4188.-Reception:...

    (Blue Note)


1965
  • Johnny Hodges
    Johnny Hodges
    John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...

    /Wild Bill Davis
    Wild Bill Davis
    Wild Bill Davis was the stage name of American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis.Davis was born in Glasgow, Missouri...

     - Joe's Blues (Verve)
  • Grassella Oliphant - The Grass Is Greener (Atlantic)
  • "Big" John Patton - Oh Baby!
    Oh Baby! (album)
    Oh Baby! is an album by American organist Big John Patton recorded in 1965 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael Erlewine awarded the album 4 stars and stated "Although a little on the light side, thanks to Patton and Green, the groove does go down".-Track...

    (Blue Note)
  • Lou Donaldson
    Lou Donaldson
    Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...

     - Musty Rusty
    Musty Rusty
    Musty Rusty is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson recorded for the Cadet label in 1965 and performed by Donaldson with Bill Hardman, Billy Gardner, Grant Green, and Ben Dixon....

    (Cadet)
  • Johnny Hodges
    Johnny Hodges
    John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...

    /Wild Bill Davis
    Wild Bill Davis
    Wild Bill Davis was the stage name of American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis.Davis was born in Glasgow, Missouri...

     - Wings and Things (Verve)
  • "Big" John Patton - Let 'em Roll
    Let 'em Roll (album)
    Let 'em Roll is an album by American organist Big John Patton recorded in 1965 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 5 stars and stated "This is one of the least appreciated of Patton's records, and there's no reason for it; it is...

    (Blue Note)


1966
  • George Braith - Laughing Souls (Prestige)
  • "Big" John Patton - Got a Good Thing Goin'
    Got a Good Thing Goin'
    Got a Good Thing Goin' is an album by American organist Big John Patton recorded in 1966 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "Fans of hard bop may find the songs a little too simple, but hot, up-tempo...

    (Blue Note)
  • Art Blakey
    Art Blakey
    Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....

     - Hold On, I'm Coming (Limelight)
  • Stanley Turrentine
    Stanley Turrentine
    Stanley William Turrentine, also known as "Mr. T" or "The Sugar Man", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Turrentine was born in Pittsburgh's Hill District into a musical family...

     - Rough 'n' Tumble
    Rough 'n' Tumble
    Rough 'n' Tumble is an album by jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine recorded for the Blue Note label in 1966 and performed by Turrentine with Blue Mitchell, James Spaulding, Pepper Adams, McCoy Tyner, Grant Green, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker with arrangements by Duke Pearson.-Reception:The...

      (Blue Note)


1969
  • Rusty Bryant
    Rusty Bryant
    Royal G. "Rusty" Bryant was an American jazz tenor and alto saxophonist....

     - Returns (Prestige)
  • Charles Kynard
    Charles Kynard
    Charles Kynard was an American soul jazz/acid jazz organist born in St. Louis, Missouri, probably better known for his album as leader on Reelin' With the Feelin for Prestige Records...

     - The Soul Brotherhood (Prestige)
  • Reuben Wilson
    Reuben Wilson
    Reuben Wilson is a jazz organist. He performs soul jazz and acid jazz, and is best known for his title track "Got To Get Your Own"He was born in Mounds, Oklahoma and his family moved to Pasadena when he was 5....

     - Love Bug
    Love Bug (Reuben Wilson album)
    Love Bug is the second album by American organist Reuben Wilson recorded in 1969 and released on the Blue Note label. The CD reissue added one bonus track.-Reception:...

    (Blue Note)
  • Don Patterson
    Don Patterson (organist)
    Don Patterson was an American jazz organist.Patterson played piano from childhood and was heavily influenced by Erroll Garner in his youth. In 1956, he switched to organ after hearing Jimmy Smith play the instrument...

     - Brother-4 (Prestige)
  • Don Patterson - Donnybrook (Prestige)
  • Don Patterson - Tune Up! (Prestige)


1970
  • Charles Kynard - Afro-Disiac (Prestige)
  • Fats Theus - Black Out (CTI)
  • Houston Person
    Houston Person
    Houston Person is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. Person is also known for his distinctive sassy sound and his expressive style of playing...

    - Person to Person! (Prestige)


1973
  • Houston Person - The Real Thing (Eastbound)

External links

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