GREEN IS FUNKY

When an artist changes direction it can cause consternation amongst both critics and existing fans. Somehow this seems particularly true in jazz, or at least that period of jazz where the Sixties shuddered into the Seventies, groaning under the weight of pop music dominance and thinning audiences.

For the artists themselves, trying to make a living in this brave new world, it was not simply a matter of popularity but a question of survival. How could they continue making music while still paying the rent? One solution was to get funky. And that’s just what guitarist Grant Green did.

Through the Sixties, Green built a reputation for tasteful, uncomplicated playing, often with a limber trio comprising guitar, organ and drums. [Read our review of Idle Moments, one of his finest albums, here]. Between 1961 and 1965, the guitarist produced a staggering twenty albums as leader. But it was the advent of soul-jazz and jazz-funk that shook things up, often to the horror of the jazz cognoscenti. Later, terms such as acid jazz and rare groove attached hip new labels to the music produced by a number of musicians during the period. Grant Green is right there amongst the best. It is jazz for pop/rock audiences, jazz for those who love a deep groove and some R&B heart, jazz for non-jazz fans.

Green Is Beautiful was released in January 1970, a funky, swinging welcome to the new decade. Joining the leader are Blue Mitchell on trumpet and Claude Bartee on tenor sax while groove-master Idris Muhammad claims the drum stool. The LP opens with a driving, jiving version of James Brown’s "Ain’t It Funky". The structure is simple, the message direct. This cooks! There are strong solos from Mitchell and organist Emanuel Riggins.

Next up, and completing the first side of the album, is a Beatles cover. Now jazz artists interpreting a Lennon-McCartney original was nothing new. It had been happening since the British invasion of the US in the early Sixties. But few attempted the epic "A Day In The Life" from Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. One who did was another under-rated jazz guitarist, Wes Montgomery. Green pays homage to Montgomery in this mellow version. Once you stop singing along and surrender to the mid-tempo cruise, it’s a terrific trip.

Opening the second side is the driving "Windjammer", a piece by organist Earl Creque that became a signature tune for Green for the remainder of his all-too-short career. Things slow down for a romantic—yet never saccharine—version of the Carpenters’ Bacharach-David classic "I’ll Never Fall In Love Again". The range of emotion Green manages to draw from this pop classic is admirable.

It’s good to end an LP on a high note, and another Creque original, "Dracula" does that in emphatic style for Green Is Beautiful. Both horn players get into the groove, as does Riggins’ organ. While over, under, and throughout is the bubbling creativity of Grant Green, proving that a top class player can funk it up and still produce exciting jazz. It’s beautiful.

© Bruce Jenkins - March 2023