Video of Grant Green in Paris

For all of my interest in the guitar repertoire, I often feel as if I am short-changing my time when it comes to listening to the major jazz guitarists. When a friend of mine directed me to a YouTube video of Grant Green performing at Newport in 1966, I was curious but a bit put off by the fact that this offering was primarily audio with still photography. Fortunately, my bias for being able to view the act of performance was satisfied by a Green trio video uploaded to YouTube by Bob the Juke.

I wanted to call out Bob’s name (such as it is), because, by now, I am fully aware that the curating of YouTube videos is a sometime thing. In that context I would cite Bob’s effort as a model of attentive curating, appealing to those of us for whom the act of listening involves more than just sitting there and watching the moving images. This particular file is an uncut and unedited digitization of footage recorded for French television that was never broadcast. Bob’s educated guess is that the performance took place at the Olympia in Paris, where Green led a trio whose other members were Larry Ridley on bass and Don Lamond on drums.

Grant Green leading his trio, probably at the Olympia (screen shot from the YouTube video being discussed)

One reason that the film may not have been broadcast is that the lighting is a bit variable at the beginning. Fortunately, that problem is quickly resolved. One has more than ample opportunity to observe clearly Green’s left-hand work on the fretted neck, while his right hand inevitably obscures the details of the string-work. The camera direction (no production credits are provided) is particularly kind to Ridley, who takes several imaginative solos. There are also several different angles for viewing Lamond, whose solo takes are fewer but consistently engaging.

One of the more interesting sentences on Green’s Wikipedia page is the following:

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.

That approach is clearly apprehended over the course of this French video. However, through his work with Blue Note Records as both leader and sideman, Green became a major figure in the transition from Parker’s approach to bebop to the emerging hard bop movement. In that context I was particularly interested in the inclusion of saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo,” which was actually first recorded with trumpeter Miles Davis leading Rollins and rhythm provided by Horace Silver on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums.

However, that recording session took place in 1954; and adventurous approaches to jazz evolved considerably over the next fifteen years. In Green’s approach to “Oleo,” one can appreciate the tune’s origins; but Green has put his own personal stamp on the interpretation. Indeed, even the overall context has shifted, since “Oleo” is followed immediately by the bossa nova tune “How Insensitive,” composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim. (“For the record,” as they say, guitarist Wes Montgomery had his own jazzy take on this tune.)

According to Bob’s curation, the five selections on this video can also be found on the album Funk in France: From Paris to Antibes (1969–1970). This may reflect personal bias, but I found that the Green trio provided more subtlety in their approaches to each of the tunes they played than I tend to associate with funk. The idea of making the album was a good one, since there is much to be gained from listening without having the video available. However, there are subtle elements of detail that tend to draw upon both Parker and Rollins; and they allow for no end of impressive inventiveness from all three members of the trio.

From that point of view, the visual element provides excellent reinforcement for the audio content.