HUMBERTO AMORIM - JAZZ IS TIMELESS

O guitarrista de jazz Grant Green nasceu em St.Louis, Missouri, 6 de junho 1935 e começou a tocar profissionalmente aos 13 anos de idade. Suas primeiras e maiores influências foram Charlie Christian e Charlie Parker.

Grant começou tocando Boogie-woogie antes de tocar jazz. Inicialmente gravou com o saxofonista Jimmy Forrest para o selo Delmark. O baterrista da banda era Elvin Jones.
Grant gravou novamente com Elvin durante os anos 60. Lou Donaldson descobriu Grant tocando num bar em St. Louis. Após uma turnê com Lou, Grant chegou a Nova Iorque entre 1959 e 1960.

Entre 1961 e 1965 Grant fez mais gravações pelo selo Blue Note como lider e acompanhante que qualquer outro músico.

Grant Green faleceu vitimado por um ataque cardíaco dentro de seu carro em Nova York, em janeiro de 1979 quando se encaminhava para atuar em um show.

Grant Green was a jazz guitarrist, born in St.Louis, Missouri, June 6th,1935.
Recording prolifically and almost exclusively for Blue Note Records (as both leader and sideman) Green performed well in hard bop, soul jazz, bebop and latin-tinged settings 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 ...

His influences were Charlie Christian, Charlie Parker, Ike Quebec, Lester Young, Jimmy Raney, Jimmy Smith and Miles Davis, he first played boogie-woogie before moving on to jazz. His first recordings in St. Louis were with tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest for the Delmark label. The drummer in the band was Elvin Jones, later the powerhouse behind John Coltrane.

Grant recorded with Elvin again in the early Sixties. Lou Donaldson discovered Grant playing in a bar in St. Louis. After touring together with Donaldson, Grant arrived in New York around 1959-60.
Lou Donaldson introduced Grant to Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records. Lion was so impressed with Grant that, rather than testing Grant as a sideman, as was the usual Blue Note practice, Lion arranged for him to record as a bandleader first. Green's initial recording session went unreleased until 2001, however, owing to a lack of confidence on Green's behalf.

Despite the shelving of his first session, Green's recording relationship with Lion and Blue Note was to last, with a few exceptions, throughout the Sixties. From 1961 to 1965, Grant made more appearances on Blue Note LPs, as leader or sideman, than anyone else. Grant'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, 1962, and, as a result, his influence spread wider than New York.

Sunday Mornin' , The Latin Bit and Feelin' the Spirit are all loose concept albums, each taking a musical theme or style: Gospel, Latin and spirituals respectively. Grant always carried off his more commercial dates with artistic success during this period. Idle Moments (1963), featuring Joe Henderson and Bobby Hutcherson, and Solid (1964), featuring the Coltrane rhythm section, are acclaimed as two of Grant's best recordings.
Many of Grant's recordings were not released during his lifetime. These include Matador, in which Grant is once again in the heavyweight company of the Coltrane rhythm section, and a series of sessions with pianist Sonny Clark.

While in New York to play an engagement at George Benson's Breezin' Lounge, Grant collapsed in his car of a heart attack in New York City on January 31, 1979. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, and was survived by six children.

Since Green's demise, his reputation has grown to legendary status & many compilations of both his earlier (post-bop/straight ahead & soul jazz) & later (funkier/dance floor jazz) periods, exist.