Grant Green: Vibes And Stuff

Grant Green: Let The Music Take Your Mind and Down Here On The Ground
From: Alive! [Blue Note, 1970]

When it comes to live albums I'm normally a little bit reluctant to play them out, the poor sound quality and scatty nature not appealing to my listening preferences. However, it's a foolish man indeed who would ignore the live recordings of sixties funk and jazz. The performances often eclipse the studio versions, the improv nature of the gig allowing the artists to elaborate and develop on their themes, wandering off from the originals blueprint into something new and exciting.

A talented jazz guitarist, Green recorded a number of good jazz albums in the fifties and sixties for Blue Note, disappeared from the scene for a couple of years due to heroin addiction, and came back to record albums almost up to his death in 1979. Despite being a prolific performer, Green only ever appeared on two live albums and they're both killers. The first of the two, Alive!, marks the real moment when his focus turned away from jazz and more towards jazz funk and I personally don't think he ever came harder or funkier than this.

We'll start with another great, great, cover for you. Green's version of Kool and The Gang's Let The Music Take Your Mind is a classy piece of jazz funk. Warning, get your headnodding mode in full effect and turn up the bass cos the Idris Muhammad
drumming on this track is absolutely killing it. There's something about the live nature of this track which adds to the ambiance, the echo of the drums with Grants guitar and horns giving it an energy that I believe would never have been captured in a studio session.

Fans of ATCQ should have no problems recognising the first minute of Down Here On The Ground, those horn stabs and smooth percussion used to such effect in Vibes and Stuff. The track more than stands up on it's own two feet though, the way the keyboards slide in over the percussion is a masterstroke of composition as the rhythm builds up speed and intensity over the course of the playing.

I've never really understood why Grant Green isn't a lot more celebrated than he is, maybe it's his crossover from jazz or his heavy use of cover standards but when you hear tracks like these you know it's about time for a reappraisal.