Uptown Records has unearthed another great treasure here. Guitarist Grant Green, who has been sighted many times by George Benson as one of the first guitarists that inspired him, is caught here in his hometown in 1959 and 1960, just before joining up with Blue Note Records and defining that label’s hard bop sound. At the local Holy Barbarian club in St. Louis, Grant is with locals Bob Graf/ts (who actually had a stint with Woody Herman-and he’s got that Four Brothers sound!), Sam Lazar/B3 and Chauncey Williams/dr as they stretch out and jam over some jazz standards and self-penned tunes with the casual joy that can only come from a local hangout.
Grant’s not the leader here, he’s just one of the guys in the band, so there’s not a major focus on him here. Still, he gets his chance in the spotlight with songs like “There Will Never Be Another You” that already has the nascent sound of Grant’s bluesy lines forming logical statements, even throwing in a quote from Carmen to boot! “The Holy Barbarian Blues” has Grant’s patented linear pickings already formed, and the mid tempo-ed “Groovin’ High” is putty in Grant’s hands; “Deep” has him bearing down like a closing reliever with two on and two out. As far as the other gents, Graf’s got a handsomely attractive manly tone on all of these tunes as well, sounding like he’s heard his share of Getz recordings on “There Will Never…” and even treads into the dark waters with a reading of John Coltrane’s “Blue Train” that doesn’t try to evoke comparisons. He lets his personal 3″ steak sizzle on its own grill. A beat poet comes in for a tune which dates the evening a bit, and while the recording sound is quite acceptable, it is not exactly Columbia Studios quality; besides that, this is as a pleasant surprise for guitar fans as was last year’s find of Wes Montgomery’s days in Indiana. As with all of the Uptown releases, an information packed group of notes and pictures tell the background story of the musicians, the club and the musical as well as social scene at the time. A delight!
Uptown Records