Grant Green on Verve

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

hi i do not know how grant got signed to verve, was he done w/ blue note for a while, it seems from his discog. did the 1st lp not sell well or something, cause his other verve stuff is unissued. just got his magesty king funk, finally. i know its not the rarest but i just never found a copy of it before. was it availble in mono?

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

wait is this the album were he 1st started playing the straight-up funk? selma march, ive never heard this before- this is earlier than i thought he was playin like this

i wonder what babyface thought of grants re-do of willow weep for me.

Edited June 16, 2012 by chewy

[robertoart]

wait is this the album were he 1st started playing the straight-up funk? selma march, ive never heard this before- this is earlier than i thought he was playin like this

i wonder what babyface thought of grants re-do of willow weep for me.

RU Serious? You haven't heard this? You can find lot's of first issues on Ebay. I think they all will have vangelder stamps. And they are usually cheap because the Blue Note collectors are not as mad about Verve. It is also my favourite GG cover photo. Sometimes I just take the Album out and look at the cover. Some of his best playing. There is another Cantaloupe Woman on here. On the liner notes they say 'Grant is digging into the juicy innards of the fruit'. You will dig it too.

Who knows why he went to Verve? Creed Taylor chased him up maybe?

[jostber]

A great album, like so many of Grant's. A previous thread with some info here:

[robertoart]

A great album, like so many of Grant's. A previous thread with some info here:

Well that old thread is still speculating about the context for the Iron City session. Which now appears to be solved. Except for the John Patton/Larry Young mystery and the 'lost Verve Session tapes'

wait is this the album were he 1st started playing the straight-up funk? selma march, ive never heard this before- this is earlier than i thought he was playin like this

i wonder what babyface thought of grants re-do of willow weep for me.

It's much like Iron City, not Funk in the literal sense. The Verve Willow Weep For Me is quite majestic.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Nice session, if not exactly magic. I think, like other BN musicians who felt they were undervalues (ie underpaid) at BN, he slid off to get more money.

MG

[robertoart]

Something interesting I heard in a recent Lonnie Smith interview. He says that immediately prior to forming the band with George Benson, Grant Green's manager Jimmy Boyd had arranged with Lonnie Smith to play on a Grant Green Blue Note session at Rudy Van Gelder's. Lonnie Smith says he got cold feet and didn't turn up (because he had only been playing for a year and didn't have the self-belief to play on a Grant Green date). Lonnie says Jimmy Boyd arranged the session again the next day, but he chickened out once more. So when would this have been?

Wasn't the Benson/Smith/Cuber band formed in late '65 early '66?

Means the session was either during Grant's time at Verve, or just after. Maybe it was actually a Verve session Lonnie was hired for. Or maybe later in '65-'66 and it was Blue Note. So we could have gotten a Blue Note or Verve Grant Green album from then, with Lonnie Smith on organ. Damn Mr Smith Wish you had turned up

The interview is fantastic, but hard to link to. So I have paraphrased.

He also talks about George Benson and he going to see Grant Green, and sitting in on his gig, just around the time they formed their own band. And Grant not letting Lonnie off the bandstand. Lonnie says from then on, Grant was always trying to get Lonnie to play gigs with him, so much so, that Jimmy Boyd had to ask Grant to stop coercing Lonnie, as he was jeopardising his relationship with George Benson. Apparently, Boyd told Grant, 'you've got your band with Larry Young and Candy Finch - leave young Lonnie alone'

Lonnie Smith also says, that whenever he could not find or afford a guitar player for gigs, Grant Green would play for him - for free.

Fascinating interview.

Edited June 18, 2012 by freelancer

[CJ Shearn]

That is interesting. Thank you!

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

NICE