Street Of Dreams

Performer: Grant Green
Artist: Larry Young; Elvin Jones; Bobby Hutcherson
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Grant Green (guitar); Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone); Larry Young (organ); Elvin Jones (drums). Producer: Alfred Lion. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on November 16, 1964. Originally released on Blue Note (84253). Personnel: Grant Green (guitar); Larry Young (organ); Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone); Elvin Jones (drums). Audio Remasterer: Rudy Van Gelder. Grant Green's 1964 STREET OF DREAMS date with organ guru Larry Young is an entirely different affair than TALKIN' ABOUT, the session the pair recorded earlier that year. It features four lengthy meditations that find Green and Young (not to mention vibraphone viscount Bobby Hutcherson) unfurling thoughtful, low-key riffs that establish an autumnal, introspective feel, as opposed to the more hard-bop-tinged tracks on the previous album. Green may be known as a master of soul jazz, but STREET OF DREAMS proves he's got plenty more strings to his bow, and sounds oddly contemporary, as though it could have been released on a label like ECM some 20 years later. Grant Green's second session with organist Larry Young, Street of Dreams brings back drummer Elvin Jones and adds Bobby Hutcherson on vibes for a mellow, dreamy album that lives up to its title. There are only four selections, all standards and all around eight to ten minutes long, and the musicians approach them as extended mood pieces, creating a marvelously light, cool atmosphere that's maintained throughout the record. Hutcherson is the perfect addition for this project, able to blend in with the modal advancement of the rest of the ensemble while adding his clear, shimmering tone to the overall texture of the album. All the musicians play with a delicate touch that's quite distinct from the modal soul-jazz on Talkin' About; it's not so much romantic as thoughtful and introspective, floating along as if buoyed by clouds. There aren't really any fireworks or funky grooves, as the music is all of a piece, which makes it difficult to choose the highlights from French songwriter Charles Trenet's "I Wish You Love," "Lazy Afternoon," the title track, or "Somewhere in the Night." It's another fine record in a discography filled with them, and yet another underrated Green session. ~ Steve Huey

Record Collector (magazine) (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The album has a wonderfully languid vibe, typified by a dreamy rendition of 'Lazy Afternoon'..."

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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