In the Studio with Grant Green, 1971
Green was playing some of his finest guitar work, unhurried and deeply musical, during these 1971 sessions.
The recordings that make up Shades of Green (1971) came together in the studio during a period when Grant Green had returned to active recording after some years away from the spotlight. These sessions captured Green in a reflective mood, working through material with the kind of focus and clarity that defined his best work. The decision to record these performances reflected a deliberate attempt to document Green's playing at a moment when he was reconnecting with the recording studio and reasserting his voice as a bandleader.
What ended up on tape shows Green working across a range of material, displaying the versatility that had always been central to his playing. He moves easily between the blues-based vocabulary that anchored much of his earlier work and the more experimental harmonic spaces that interested him by this point in his career. The guitar tone is direct and unadorned—Green never needed much to say what he wanted to say, and these tracks bear that out. There's no padding, no attempts at showmanship. Just a working musician in the room making decisions about phrasing and feel from moment to moment.
Shades of Green (1971) arrived during a period of transition for Green personally and musically. The album found an audience among listeners who appreciated his straightforward approach to the instrument and his refusal to chase trends. It remains a solid representation of where Green stood as a player in the early seventies—still vital, still searching, still capable of making something genuine happen in a recording session.
Who's playing
Wilton Felderbass
Dick Hicksonbass trombone
Emmanuel Rigginselectric piano
Grant Greenguitar
Joe Newmantrumpet
Victor Paztrumpet
Jimmy Sedlartrumpet
Joe Wildertrumpet
Harry DiVitotrombone
Stix Hooperdrums
Harold Cardwellpercussion
King Errissoncongas
Billy Wootenvibraphone
Phil Bodnerwoodwind
Jim BuffingtonFrench horn
John Leonewoodwind
George Margewoodwind
Romeo Penquewoodwind
