Grant Green - The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark (1961-1962) [2CD]
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THE COMPLETE QUARTETS WITH SONNY CLARK includes the albums NIGERIA, GOODEN'S CORNER and OLEO as well as 3 additional tracks. This two-disc set gathers together the cuts for three Blue Note sessions teaming Grant Green with Sonny Clark. The first, NIGERIA, was originally release posthumously in 1980 and features Green's only collaboration with drummer Art Blakey. GOODEN'S CORNER and OLEO were both only released in Japan in 1979 and 1980, respectively. The latter two sessions featured Louis Hayes on drums along with Sam Jones, the bassist for all three albums. Luckily these sessions have been carefully restored and release for all to hear. The focus of all three session is mainly on standards. In the hands of Green and Clark, however, these familiar tunes become something else entirely. The force of their strong musical personalities is so consuming that works like Gerswin's "It Ain't Necessarily So," here taken as a grungy shuffle, take on a whole new light. Likewise, the Kern-Hammerstein classic "The Song Is You" and Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love" are both as fresh and exciting as the day they were written. Disc two features Henry Mancini's "Moon River" reshaped into a delightful bounce and Green's shockingly unusual read of Sonny Rollins' "Oleo." Also found here are some Green originals including the dynamic "Hip Funk."
Mosaic released a four-disc box set titled The Complete Blue Note With Sonny Clark in 1991, rounding up everything that the guitarist and pianist recorded together between 1961 and 1962. Blue Note's 1997 version of the set, The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark, trims Mosaic's collection by two discs, offering only the quartet sessions (the Ike Quebec sessions, Born to Be Blue and Blue and Sentimental, are available on individual discs). In some ways, this actually results in a more unified set, since it puts Green and Clark directly in the spotlight, with no saxophone to complete for solos, but it doesn't really matter if the music is presented as this double-disc set, the four-disc box, or the individual albums – this is superb music, showcasing the guitarist and pianist at their very best. All of the sessions are straight-ahead bop but the music has a gentle, relaxed vibe that makes it warm, intimate, and accessible. Grant and Clark's mastery is subtle – the music is so enjoyable, you may not notice the deftness of their improvisation and technique – but that invests the music with the grace, style, and emotion that distinguishes The Complete Quartets. Small group hard bop rarely comes any better than this.
Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on December 23, 1961 and January 13 & 31, 1962. Includes liner notes by Ben Sidran, Michael Cuscuna and Bob Porter.-
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Tracklist:
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CD 1
01. Airegin
02. It Ain't Necessarily So
03. I Concentrate On You
04. The Things We Did Last Summer
05. The Song Is You
06. Nancy (With The Laughing Face)
07. Airegin [alt. take]
08. On Green Dolphin Street
09. Shadrack
10. What Is This Thing Called Love
CD 2
01. Moon River
02. Gooden's Corner
03. Two For One
04. Oleo
05. Little Girl Blue
06. Tune Up
07. Hip Funk
08. My Favorite Things
09. Oleo [alt. take]
*1961-62, 1997 Blue Note / Capitol | CDP 7243 8 57194 2 4
Personnel:
Grant Green (guitar)
Sonny Clark (piano)
Sam Jones (bass)
Art Blakey; Louis Hayes (drums).
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