UNMISSABLE Johnny Griffin JL 21.v.11

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

the very dynamic and wonderful tenor playing of Mr J Griffin reviewd by the artist and Alyn today ... much better than the world ending eh ...


and btw the Ornette Coleman JL is the late prog tonite

[Serial_Apologist]

the very dynamic and wonderful tenor playing of Mr J Griffin reviewd by the artist and Alyn today ... much better than the world ending eh ...

Famous Last Words...

[rubbernecker]

I was lucky enough to catch JG at Brecon just before he died. Admittedly, he was a shadow of his former self, but what a great lionising shadow. His playing is unmistakable and in many respects unmatched. I love the story that Coltrane was scared to play with him.

[Tenor Freak]

I'll be listening, hopefully...


NP: the John Taylor JL on listen-again

[Tenor Freak]

I can only imagine what Hank Mobley must have been thinking just before he recorded "A Blowin' Session" with JG....

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

...well anything by Mr G is listenable and the Monk at the Five Spot [get the Complete] aka Thelonious in Action is a must have album ... JG duet with Solal is interesting and his Full House with Wynton Kelly and Wes Montgomery is also a must have .. and there was that folk song album ....

[rubbernecker]

JG duet with Solal is interesting and his Full House with Wynton Kelly and Wes Montgomery is also a must have ..

I've been looking for a new copy of In and Out at a reasonable price for many months now. Any ideas where I can get one? Solal is another of my heroes.

And as for Full House ...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

as a dld £6-32 at big river or used for a tenner ..

[rubbernecker]

as a dld £6-32 at big river or used for a tenner ..

Thanks, but I want the CD, new, preferably for around a tenner, and world peace...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

world peace is easy the cd might take a while ...

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

OK as far as it went BUT WHY O' WHY ALWAYS the same emphasis on Griff's "speed" records - the Bluenotes etc. Julian Joseph's Jazz Legends went down the same tired route in 2006.

Griffin's RIVERSIDE catalogue is joyous, subtle and diverse and totally neglected . A great (and "deep" by anyone's standards) quartet date with Wilbur Ware, Drew and Philly JJ. a sextet date with same and Blue Mitchell/Curtis fuller, a very fine "with strings" album dedicated to Billie, an organ album with Paul Bryant, The Folk Song album with Barry Harris, a "two bass" album I haven't heard, Full House with Wes et al. The "Big Soul" album that so influenced Graham Bond, sideman dates with Nat Adderley, Clerk Terry etc. etc.

For feks sake.. don't be so lazy. Griffin is so misunderstood. What about his association with Elmo Hope and Bud Powell - "The pianists - I learned more from these two that any saxophone player". He worked with Elmo and Philly JJ in the Joe Morris band of the early '50s.

BN. (grumpy)

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Johnny Griffin
Change of Pace

Riverside By Duck Baker

"When Griffin wanted to record with a group comprised of (Julius) Watkins, bassists Bill Lee and Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley, his producer wondered where the idea had come from. Perhaps the Pettiford groups discussed above influenced the tenorman's thinking, but the two-bass format is even trickier than the bass-cello combination-not that you would know it from this great 1961 record. Usually Lee plays arco to Gales' pizzicato but sometimes they both bow or pick simultaneously, albeit in well-defined situations. Griffin also contributed some very unique original writing. I have always thought of Griffin as a fire-breathing soloist, but with Change of Pace he revealed a talent for arranging that few might suspect, and the band sounds like they're having a blast."

SO C'MON !

BN.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well El Senor i must say i agree but i guess ALyn would say he was talking to da man hisself .... and that is what he picked ...

[Alyn_Shipton]

Calum
I would, I was, and he did (and Geoffrey was there as well.)
Changed the subject to Riverside, and JG immediately got into the subject of Monk.
Moved to the later work and got a lecture on his woes with the taxman, his split from his wife - the incarceration was about the only usable sentence from a long ramble.
I dislike the accusation of laziness.
JL is written, researched, produced and presented by me, and I put a lot of effort into it. I don't necessarily aim that effort at pleasing every member of this board, but I try...
Yours
(very substantially more grumpy than BN)
the presenter

[Old Grumpy]

Calum
I put a lot of effort into it. I don't necessarily aim that effort at pleasing every member of this board, but I try...

Effort much appreciated - I didn't know anything about Johnny Griffin before last Saturday's JL

Yours, OG (but probably not as grumpy in this regard as you or BN!