Grant's First Stand

Performer: Grant Green
Artist: Baby Face Willette; Ben Dixon
Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Grant Green (guitar); "Baby Face" Willette (organ); Ben Dixon (drums). Producer: Alfred Lion. Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on January 28, 1961. Originally released on Blue Note (84064). Includes liner notes by Robert Levin. Digitally remastered using 24-bit technology by Ron McMaster. Personnel: Grant Green (guitar); Baby Face Willette (organ); Ben Dixon (drums). Audio Remasterer: Rudy Van Gelder. Guitarist Grant Green's immense recorded output for Blue Note would not be complete without this excellent date from 1961, which marks his first recorded appearance for the label. This is a burning trio session with legendary organist "Baby Face" Willette and underrated drummer Ben Dixon providing fiery counterpoint to Green's already soulful lines. From the blistering opener, "Miss Ann's Tempo," Green digs in and delivers some choice statements while Willette whoops up a sonic storm of his own. The session's two standards, "Lullaby of the Leaves" and "Tain't Nobody's Business if I Do," are stunning swingers that reach deep into the blues tradition that Green made such a part of his signature style. His own compositions, "Blues for Willarene," "Baby's Minor Lope," and the closing "A Wee Bit O' Green," reveal the guitarist's penchant for swinging grooves and tasty melodies from the start. In all, this is a remarkable debut that foreshadows Green's legendary career as one of the most influential guitarists in jazz.

St. Louis-born guitarist Grant Green was a giant of what came to be known as soul-jazz. His singular style incorporated the influences of Gospel, blues, and R&B, and defined a unique post-bop language for electric guitar. His classic early-1960s Blue Note recordings are high-water marks of both the soul-jazz sound and of jazz guitar in general. Drug abuse sadly hampered his later career; he died in 1979, but his son, the jazz guitarist Grant Green, Jr., continues his legacy.

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