I recall coming across Grant Green by pure happenstance in a CD in the mid 90s. I had been through a Jazz program for a few years not too long before this, and *no* *one* had *EVER* mentioned his name to me, not once. Same again for two private teachers who were both monster jazz players. The guy who owned the CD store in question had a deep knowledge of jazz, orchestral, avant garde, experiemental music, and music in general. So he stocked music by important artists that are over looked. My first GG CD was the one with all the gospel/religious tunes. It was/is a great introduction. I collected most of his CDs after that. I never got into his funky material, but I recommend Grant Green and Kenny Burrell to *all* guitar players and jazz fans.
Grant is the man, my personal favourite along with Kenny and Wes ! Grant played everything from bebop to to blues to funk... a player with feel and groove !
Great video Jens! Love Grant Green and you're right - that "Solid" recording is great - Henderson is amazing on that one. Anybody beginning their jazz journey absolutely must check out GG, for all the reasons you stated in the video. His lines are easy to hear, the context is often a blues or a well known standard. Thanks so much for your hard work!
At 6:33 - 'No Scales, just TRIADS and ENCLOSURES.' This knowledge is 'The Holy Grail' to me ! I should say 'ANOTHER Holy Grail' to me. How many Holy Grails do you have ? I wish I learnt this years ago. Thanks Jens. ☯
I'm a predominantly Rock guitar guy but have had a 1/4 century obsession with GG. Easily one of the more under rated guitarists of any genre. Listening to him and Jerry Garcia taught me the importance of chord tones. Love how you highlight the wide interval jumps and those trills that break up things and make them more interesting. His funk albums from the late 1960's are straight N A S T Y. GG has developed a bit of a following in the underground Hip Hop community amongst the crate diggers. Love your channel. Keep it up.
I love Grant's sound, too. To me, there's something more "3D" about it than a lot of jazz guitarists' tones. It sounds as real and as present as horns or piano would.
Grant Green is a Monster player !!! One of my all-time favorite jazz guitarists !!!👨🏻 👍Of course, there are the usual suspects, but sometimes Grant seems highly underrated!😉
Great stuff ! I've been digging on Grant ever since I started playing jazz. There's something I find critical to emulate his phrasing few seems to get, and that's strict blues box fingering. When Grant videos finally started to appear that made it extra clear: he was first and foremost a blues guitar player that had mastered T-Bone Walker's style. Wich means you have to play his stuff in blues boxes to get it to sound right, odd string jumps, slurs, finger slides and all. Another blues player who could bust out mean bop lines was Johnny Guitar Watson, and same idea. 95% of it is 3 fingers, blues box phrasing. It sure demands quite a an adjustement if you're used to 3 note per string logic. BTW - for some lesser known early Grant Green be bop craziness, check out "Red River Valley" from Goin' West. Some serious substitution action on that !
This is great! Grant Green's style is so accessible and yet also so pure at the same time. A couple of great solos to check out are "It Ain't Necessarily So" from The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark and his solo on "Latona" from Big John Patton's album Let 'Em Roll.
I like Grant’s tone. It just sound clean and articulate to me. One of my favorite guitarists is Pat Martino. I once made the mistake, on a very large forum, of commenting that I didn’t really like is tone. I should have kept my mouth shut. 😂 Grant’s version of Round Midnight is my favorite.
LOL Jens-It seems like some guitar player friends of mine either hate his tone or love it! As a sax player, I love it. But what he is putting down is for real!
Thanks for the recommended listening and tips on phrasing. Listened to "Idle Moments" and "Solid" nice and loud through my Buchardts, and really enjoyed both albums. Interested why you do not like his guitar tone? Sounds like a 335 style guitar with P90s to my ear, which I really like personally, but I am not a jazz aficionado. Is it the slight grittiness of the P90s?
I like his tone on those albums, it's the earlier ones that I don't like. Both solid and idle moments are an Archtop with a minihumbucker, he had gone away front he es330 at that time.
not long after I started learning Jazz Guitar, I was over in San Francisco, walking down Grant street, then came to the corner of Grant and Green. The Street sign is the cover of his Street of Dreams album. I went over to Amoeba in the Haight and bought that record. Simple yet melodic and this is what I wanted to play. So I bought more Grant Green albums. Idle Moments is amazing - learning to play Jean De Fluer - lots of RU-vids on the solo, but none on the whole front end melody. having to learn to sight read to learn that - Then I saw Kurt Rosenwinkel over in Berkeley - most amazing concert I ever saw - Learning Grant Green is key - all from a street sign in North Beach San Francisco - Now I'm going back to Grant's early period to learn that before going back to Jean De Fluer - gotta get the prerequesites down
Hey I transcribed this song! It really helped me understand phrasing and a lot of language The good thing is that it has a lot of similarities from chorus to chorus so it helps I still use a lot of the stuff ❤
Grant Green was the first jazz guitarist who really inspired me to further my knowledge in jazz phrasing and technique in general; his rendition of “It Ain’t Necessarily So” still remains one of my all time favorite jazz guitar tracks
I love Grant Green’s playing, Idle Moments was the first of his solo I learned. Nothing like jumping into the deep end of the swimming pool. Love your channel, very informative.
I will open up about that guitar tone, That is the kind of sound that i really like. Though I will admit that i am biased on this kind of "bright acoustic sounding tone" because the first jazz records i listened to were the virtuoso albums by joe pass. It just sits right for me. For some reason the archetypal jazz tone sounds kind of odd to me especially jim hall's guitar tone. To my ears its just too muddy and it wouldn't cut through a band mix as good as a brighter tone would.
Hell yeah. Grant Green is "my guy". I've been listening to his albums in the car like every day for the past month. Love his playing. Love his tone. Love P90s. Love the funky stuff.
As a violinist that has no idea why this video was in my feed, I somehow ended up watching the whole thing 😂 I though classical musicians were hardcore about tone, but this jazz tone stuff seems to be extremely competitive
Jens, there's a lot of excellent info and wisdom in all your videos. I wish you'd reconsider the use of the lame humor graphics that just distract. Thanks again for your great work!
Grant Green has always been my favorite. His biography is good. There’s a section where one guitarist-I can’t remember who, but I think it was George Benson-saying at the jam sessions any time Green was playing the only way to beat him would be to try and get him to play really fast, but if you didn’t play fast, he beat you every time with his soul and killer lines. His use of syncopation is really cool and underrated by guitarists. It’s great to see the Grant Green love!
I love Grant Green. He might have the most recognizable tone of anyone. “Green Street” is my favorite album of his. Also a prolific sideman for Blue Note in the first half of the 60s. I love him on Big John Patton’s “Got a Good Thing Goin'” and Ike Quebec’s “Blue & Sentimental.”
Your comments on Grant's tone had me thinking. I wouldn't want to emulate his tone or pick attack in my own playing, but I love listening to it on his albums. Its funny how that works. I wonder if Scofield fans feel similarly.
I first heard about him in an old Guitar World write up called "A Rocker's Guide to Jazz Guitar" or something similar, and got myself a copy of His Majesty King Funk that was recommended there. I liked his tone there, and his melodic sensibilities and phrasing. While supposedly simple, it is certainly not mediocre (or less). Later I got a copy of Matador that was recommended elsewhere, not as fun as His Majesty..., but grows on me. Thanks for the explaining about his periods, I feel it'll help me navigate better through his music (I paused the video after less than 90 seconds, and already found useful information, kudos).
Dear Jens, I can't find video of yours, it has the similar topic as this one "~ you should def check this guitarist..", as I remember, but I'm not shure if it was Grant... It was I guess a year or a good few years ago... I started to listen to this guitarist and find the tune I really love and forgot about it, can't find it now... It contains that descending lick of minor thirds triton away from each other. Could you please by any chance guess what tune it could be?
@@Bejaardenbus here it is. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_4jMQNJFPO4.html we all have our favorite guitar tests, but to me, Green is so much stronger and clearer with his lines. It’s like he intends every single notes while often others play a flurry of notes without solid intention behind each one. No one will change anyone else’s mind on the internet, but that’s my opinion. Of course, I also love Green’s tone which some here don’t like.
@@JoelLaviolette just enjoy it man. The whole " this guy is better " thing sometimes just wears thin.I've seen that vid many timesI love Grant Green, l love Burrell. They are both carving it up and doing fantastic. Sometimes the male thing is just battling out who the best gladiator is. They are all fantastic.cheers
It must be Grant's later tone that really floors me...his hard driving style with heavy chord tone use and solid forward motion in his solos paired with slight distortion...groovy is really the only word to use to describe.
I can't read notes and my knowledge of (jazz) chords is minimal. I play by ear and I try to copy what I hear with my eyes shut. Probably that's why Grant is a great inspiration for me. I wonder if Grant could read notes himself, especially when you say he makes the same "mistake" as Sonny Rollins does in a solo. Thanks for posting.
Grant did a lot of sideman stuff, so there is a fair chance he could read. As for the "mistake" it is not really a mistake they just play the melody wrong, but also that is a choice.
Gotta admit I've kinda slept on Grant Green. I don't think a single one of my many teachers even ever mentioned him! I've heard a few of his recordings over the years but just was never in love with them like I have been with many other players. That being said, I love everything presented here so I guess it's time to do a deep dive!
How dare you talk about Grant Green's tone like that! Just kidding. Actually, I didn't like Grant Green for a long time. I was looking at my CD collection and I realized I had a bunch of GG. If I don't like him why do I have so many of his recordings? I decided to get out the Sonny Clark recordings and learn Airegin. I transcribed the first chorus note for note with the bass player before the band comes in. That's when I felt like I finally understood him. For me, his playing is channeling some primordial African Spirit. The Airegin solo does this as well as Wee Bit O Green where he unashamedly plays a bone head pentatonic lick that really fits the mood. There is lots of rhythmic variation in his stuff and clever use of space. ( The Primordial channeling ). Grant Green is teaching me among other things to not over play. I'm not a fan of his tone either but nor am I a fan of the rolled off bass "goose fart" tone. Love your videos and perspective
Dude. "You love Grant Green but you do.nt like his tone so much".Just be happy that you have his work to learn from and expand your horizons.Ok clown.? Thanks.
I'm starting to learn Jazz guitar with your books and videos, Jens. I heard Grant Green's Cease the Bombing on the radio today and thought this very thing: that I could take inspiration from it and learn his solo on my own. Then two hours later I land on your video about him! What synchronicity!
watching this video, which is about maneuvers that can be applied directly, raises another question for me, which I have encountered again and again in recent times: how do you manage to bring certain licks and building blocks into your own game and system? i consider this question and the process hopefully found here to be essential. maybe i'm misunderstanding and looking for something that doesn't exist but at least i suspect that the goal of imitating and memorizing solos is to internalize these concepts in such a way that these musical solutions come out of you automatically when the moment is right. here i suspect that the ear decides when the appropriate musical situation exists. the opposite concept to the automatic approach, namely to think and consciously fire off licks and phrases, seems to me to be wrong and not creative in the long run. therefore the question: if i am right with variant 1 (at least in parts because i suppose that impro is a mix of several scenarios)... how can this process of integrating be made as practicable and efficient as possible in order to enjoy the musical flow quite early?
My -interest in- love of Grant Green stems directly from Jens, thank you for not neglecting this (easily overlooked) reference player. I transcribed Cool Blues and it was such a beneficial experience.
Hello teacher, I want to learn jazz guitar with you one to one. Do you have online lessons? How should I contact you？I would really appreciate your reply
Thanks for the message, I don't really teach one-on-one. I simply don't have time. The best I can offer is my course where you do get feedback if you post videos of you playing the different assignments. You can request an invitation to check it out here: bit.ly/JazzGtRm
I was curious about jazz guitar, started listening to a tonne of albums and artists trying to find someone I could find that I liked and idle moments just stuck out for me - no idea why!
Great lines and analysis. Might be worth mentioning that the first line of the first example plays off the idea of the Ab melodic minor (the altered V of the Cmajor) which is a great "trick" to use playing off the V of a static major chord. Just how i think of it. Others may view it differently
I'll check out Solid, in the same vein I've recently been enjoying listening to Jim Hall. I don't hear people talking about him much? But then I've not looked much further then my nose!
I agree about the tone. It did not turn me off, I just thought it was an oversight. A lot of guys from the early days just took the attitude that "it came that way from the factory." But nonetheless, great tunes and great feel. And also, the big excitement over Wes Montgomery had a tendency to bury or obscure a number of superb guitarists of the time. That's show biz, I guess.
Grant is one of the smoothest and melodic guitar players I’ve heard, and I’ve listened to everything from Rock, Metal, Blues, Jazz fusion, pop, world music etc. Super underrated
I never liked GG's tone either "twinky" and I hate his really fast tight out-of-tune vibrato! But I learned a ton of vocabulary off transcriptions of his music!
So glad you're showcasing Grant Green. I love his tone. He manages to emphasize the highs and maybe the mids just a bit and really cut through without it being brittle. He gets a lot out of a P90. It's still a pure Gibson single-coil tone. I don't know how different it is from early Jim Hall P90 tone. Thanks for analyzing all those licks. I'm very familiar with all of those albums (I have about 10 GG CDs from the days when CDs were still a thing -- so many classics there).
Thanks! I actually think that Jim Hall sounds very different from this, I have a video on his playing in the 50s coming up then you can judge for yourself :)
I also didn't give him proper respect. I heard one or two solos that weren't his best, and that was it. Years later, I examined more of his work, and whoa, he's great and unique.
Thank you for this! I stumbled into Grant Green by myself but when I mentioned it my teacher told me to check out (and transcribe) the head of Blues in Maude's Flat. Great, great phrases even if just pentatonic.
Wolf Marshall's 2004 Hal Leonard book is a GREAT resource 'Best of Grant Green: A Step-by-Step Breakdown of the Guitar Styles and Techniques of the Jazz Groove Master (Guitar Signature Licks) Paperback'
I remember hearing Mambo Inn 30 odd years ago. What a great track for beginners to learn 2 5 1s. Great choice, I like his percussive sound too. Thanks for the upload
Thank you for the introduction to Grant Green! I love the arpeggio at 2:30 in Idle Moments. Henderson's first solo in that song was fantastic! He got me hooked looking for the next note and boom it wasn't there. I laughed out loud.
Be creative. I love traditional big band stuff. I also love the 1990's "Seattle Sound", which was the first thing I learned. Stick a Big Muff or a DS-1 in your signal chain. Play!!! Have fun!!! I'm not a jazz guitarist, but I've been playing since '93 when I learned STP's "Plush" from tabs in Guitar World magazine. (whispers: MAKE IT YOUR OWN!!!) (right?!) ✌💗🤘 P.S. I'm always excited for Jens' videos because I've only started learning. I also apologize if I sound crude, but I started drinking the second I got home from a hell night in a kitchen. Maybe I'll eat my stupid ego and go back to school by the time I'm 50 lol
In my opinion the problem with many classic jazz guitar recordings from the early 1960s lies not with the guitarist but the recording engineers and record companies. Over the years, I have acquired 8 Grant Green albums/CDs. The best sounding, to my ears, is Idle Moments, which was recorded in 1963 by Rudy Van Gelder but remastered by him in 1998. Everyone sounds great on that CD including the sax player (Joe Henderson) the pianist (Duke Pearson) and the bass player (Bob Cranshaw). I'recommend Idle Moments not just for the sound quality. The slower tempo tunes are easier to learn than the up tempo performances favored by jazz guitar icons like Tal Farlow. And, if you want to hear and learn from another underrated jazz guitarist, I recommend George Barnes.
Hi Jens, as a jazz beginner, I had an Es330 TD (fr. 70's). At the beginning I was super excited having a Gibson but the fact is I had often problem adjusting the sound I liked. Finally I sold it. So, your intuition seems too me fairly accurate. At least I discovered Grand Green,. After having read somewhere he was using the same guitar as I did., I looked for his CD'q. But the truth is, it was not exactly the sound I was expecting (too much treble, I think to remember). Thanks for your GG's biographe. It gives back this artist all his value.
I hadn’t heard of Grant Green until about a year or two ago, and I am so glad I found him. Love his recordings and it’s amazing to hear how varied his style is over the years yet it’s still very much him.
Jen's I have a lesson request. Both, Lage Lund and Kurt Rosenwinkel make the same claim. For guitarists, it should be a priority to put the music first. Meaning, after the scales, theory, technique, and goals, settle, the music must remain in first place for the guitar project to work. I understand it, as I just illustrated it. But, despite it's importance I don't have a very deep defense of it beyond the obvious. So, being a subject that probably follows one from beginner to professional, and due to its relevance, I would be interested in a lesson on why and how to put the music in first place.
Jens, Lund states it at the very start of this video. He provides some context for the idea. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ll2kbcrCRR8.html
I acknowledge, what Lund just outlined as putting music before other priorities is different from what I was saying. I was going off other information, but I grant Lund has a good conception.
Just getting more into jazz after playing for almost forty years. Despising the style and tone of most jazz guitarists, benson and grant green had killer tone because they didn’t go for that, in my opinion, overly mellow dead jazz guitar tone. It’s almost too cliche. But the truly unique influential guys like green and benson had a more “accesible” tone. I like the airiness of his tone vs the lack of air in some jazz guitar tones. Just my opinion. Love that I found Jen’s RU-vid and website.
I hear you. I've complained about Jeff Beck's tone for years. But let's listen to GG. I've never heard of an enclosure. It's a theory concept, no doubt. Bringing a phrase home, or something. You Northern Europeans are good engineers. Mainly, I get inspired to listen to the source you're referencing. Thanks, Larsen.
Wow. I'm usually frustrated with anything on RU-vid analyzing music. It's either just stupid simple, reads wayyyy too much into it to pad the view time, or it misses the point entirely. I'm so happy I stumbled into this channel-great stuff!
