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Grant Green, despite his untimely death in 1979 at age 43, was amazingly prolific, having released 37 albums. At one point there were 15 unissued albums by 1971. Live at Club Mozambique, a 1971 performance, was released in 2006, exhausting the lot of unissued until now. So, fans of the underrecognized but supremely influential jazz guitarist will salivate at these unissued live recordings from the ‘70s, the earliest (1969-1970) and latest (1975) known live recordings of Green as a leader. The first, Funk in France, contains sessions captured at the ORTF studios in Paris, and the Antibes Jazz Festival in Juan-les-Pins. Slick! – Live at Oil Can Harry’s is the only time Green played the famous club in Vancouver, B.C. in 1975, recorded three years after Green’s historic album Live at the Lighthouse in 1972.
There’s so much to digest here over the breath of three CDs, two in the first package, and one in the second. As with any project from Zev Feldman and Resonance Records, these are top shelf packages with pristine recordings accompanied with exhaustive booklets from informed sources like Michael Cuscuna, A. Scott Galloway, and interviews with Dr. Lonnie Smith, Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno, Grant Green’s eldest son and guitarist Greg Green (aka Grant Green Jr.) and some different sources on Slick! along with terrific photographs.
With a clean tone and precise lines Green cuts through Funk in France with a mix of soul jazz bordering on funk. The album opens with James Brown’s “I Don’t Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open the Door, I’ll Get It Myself)”, follows with machine-gun like single note improvisations on Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo,” followed by a turn into Brazilian samba for Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “How Insensitive (insensatez).” Green then jams on his own “Untitled Blues” before nodding to Rollins again on “Sonnymoon for Two.” Guitar great Barney Kessel duels with Green on “I Wish You Love.” The unit for the ORTF Paris session is Larry Ridley on bass and Don Lamond on drums.
Disc One ends with an 18 minute version of “Upshot” at the Antibes Jazz Festival. Disc Two continues the Antibes performances with three extended tunes, including a more animated take on “Upshot” as well as “Hurt So Bad.” Here Green is accompanied by Claude Bartee on tenor sax, Clarence Palmer on organ and Billy Wilson on drums. The highlight here is the 27 minute “High Heel Sneakers” where Green’s explosive solo borders on rock and roll, emblematic of what other jazz musicians like Miles and even Stanley Turrentine were doing in the early seventies.
Slick! – Live at Oil Can Harry’s was recorded less than four years before Green’s passing. The session’s Grant Green Quintet features a Detroit-based unit with the remarkably simpatico Emmanuel Riggins (father of drummer Karriem Riggins) on electric piano, Ronnie Ware on bass, drummer Greg “Vibrations” Williams and Gerald Izzard on percussion. Green’s stretching the limits of jazz on this performance, taking some familiar tunes into uncharted territory. It’s a heavier, funkier sound as it evolves. Charlie Parker’s “Now’s the Time” is straightforward but a 26-minute take on the same Jobim tune from the previous disc is filled with funky layers. The centerpiece is the 30 minute medley of Stanley Clarke’s “Vulcan Princess,” (a showcase for Ware),” Skin tight,” by the Ohio Players, Bobby Womack’s “Woman’s Gotta Have It,” “Boogie on Reggae Woman” from Stevie Wonder and “For the Love of Money” by the O’Jays. The band is in a filthy deep funk groove, reaching a boiling frenzy in the latter third. This was originally broadcast on radio in Vancouver by DJ Gary Barclay who is the emcee for the evening and contributes to the liner notes. The transfer from the original 10” reels produces an amazingly clear sound.
Two passages from the immense content in the booklets are worth pointing out. Dr. Lonnie Smith in the interview for Funk in France says about Green, “He deserved even a lot more. Way underrated. Everybody knows, every guitar player knows he was the top guy.” That statement earns even more credibility with this story by his son, Greg, recounting how his dad was friendly with his contemporaries – Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, and George Benson. Greg Green says, “George Benson told me this story once, and I’ll never forget it. He said ‘Man, one day your dad was playing at my club, and I loved your dad so much I wanted to go again.’ He said, “I decided to come to the club, but I didn’t want him to know I was there, so when I came in I went all the way to the back of the club.’ When he turned around he bumped into this guy, and it was Wes Montgomery. Wes said, “George, what are you doing here?” (laughs)
Again, Zev Feldman and Resonance Records puts together their hallmark superior packages as evidenced by their Grammy win for John Coltrane’s Offering: Live at Temple University for “Best Album Notes.” These two packages rival that one. Importantly, for the first time Resonance has assembled a band to play the music from their archival offerings on the road. This project is called “Grant Green’s Evolution of Funk” with a stellar band that includes guitarist Grant Green Jr., saxophonist Donald Harrison, keyboardist Larry Goldings, and drummer Mike Clark. Stay tuned for upcoming tour dates. In the meantime, dig in. This is foundationally historic, moving, and scintillating.