Grant Green (June 6, 1935 –
January 31, 1979) was a jazz guitarist and composer.
Recording prolifically and mainly
for Blue Note Records as both leader and sideman, Green performed in the hard
bop, soul jazz, bebop, and Latin-tinged idioms throughout his career.
Critics Michael Erlewine and Ron
Wynn write, "A severely underrated player during his lifetime, Grant Green
is one of the great unsung heroes of jazz guitar ... Green's playing is
immediately recognizable – perhaps more than any other guitarist." Critic
Dave Hunter described his sound as "lithe, loose, slightly bluesy and
righteously groovy".
He often performed in an organ trio, a small
group with an organ and drummer.
Apart from guitarist Charlie
Christian, Green's primary influences were saxophonists, particularly Charlie
Parker, and his approach was therefore almost exclusively linear rather than
chordal. He thus rarely played rhythm guitar except as a sideman on albums led
by other musicians.
The simplicity and immediacy of
Green's playing, which tended to avoid chromaticism, derived from his early
work playing rhythm and blues and, although at his best he achieved a synthesis
of this style with bop, he was essentially a blues guitarist and returned
almost exclusively to this style in his later career
Lou Donaldson discovered him
playing in a bar in St. Louis. After touring together with Donaldson, Green
arrived in New York around 1959–60.
Lou Donaldson introduced Green to
Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records. Lion was so impressed that, rather than testing
Green as a sideman, as was the usual Blue Note practice, Lion arranged for him
to record as a group leader first. However, due to Green's lack of confidence
the initial recording session was only released in 2001 as First Session.
Despite the shelving of his first
session, Green's recording relationship with Blue Note was to last, with a few
exceptions, throughout the 1960s. From 1961 to 1965, Green made more
appearances on Blue Note LPs, as leader or sideman, than anyone else. Green's
first issued album as a leader was Grant's First Stand. This was followed in
the same year by Green Street and Grantstand. Grant was named best new star in
the Down Beat critics' poll, in 1962. He often provided support to the other
important musicians on Blue Note, including saxophonists Hank Mobley, Ike
Quebec, Stanley Turrentine and organist Larry Young.
Green spent much of 1978 in the
hospital and, against the advice of doctors, went back on the road to earn
money. While in New York to play an engagement at George Benson's Breezin'
Lounge, he collapsed in his car of a heart attack and died on January 31, 1979.