50 Jazz Blues Licks is an exclusive series of video
Grant Green’s arrival on the New York scene in 1959-1960 is in many ways the classic overnight success story – one in which the succeeder in question actually spent years under the radar honing his or her chops before getting exposed to a broader scene. Green was a working musician in St. Louis, playing gigs and doing his thing, when altoist Lou Donaldson (Jazz Blues Licks #4, #5) heard the guitarist on a swing through town. Donaldson, then recording for Blue Note records, brought Green to the attention of label partner/co-founder/producer Alfred Lion, and Green was soon in New York recording on a Donaldson session. Lion swiftly arranged for a date with Green as a leader, seen by many as an indication of how taken Lion was with Green – the more general policy at the label was to give a new musician a much longer trial period doing sessions with others in the stable before getting a session of one’s own. And interestingly, Lion may have felt he’d been overly hasty,, as Green’s initial date, with no less a rhythm section than Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, was shelved (though released four decades later as First Session). The guitarist’s followup organ-trio date, with Baby Face Willette and Ben Dixon, however, evidently passed muster, as it was released in 1961, launching one of the most successful jazz
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