Carryin' On
By 1969, Grant Green had been away from the studio for a couple of years, and when he came back he came back different. Carryin' On is the beginning of his funk period proper, and the shift is immediate. The rhythm section locks into deep grooves, the tempos slow down to a strut, and Green's guitar starts doing things that sound more like James Brown's bands than Blue Note's back catalog.
Claude Bartee's tenor saxophone is a revelation here: he's not a household name but he fits this groove-oriented context perfectly, adding a raw, slightly rough-edged quality that keeps things from getting too smooth. Willie Bivens adds vibraphone to the texture, and Clarence Palmer's electric piano gives the harmonics a different color from the organ-driven records. The title track in particular hits a pocket that doesn't let go. Idris Muhammad was becoming one of the best funk drummers in jazz, and you can hear why.
It's not as polished as the classic period, but that's the point. Carryin' On has a live-room urgency that suits Green well. This is where the second chapter of his career really begins, and it's a strong start.
Green Is Beautiful
Green Is Beautiful continues directly from where Carryin' On left off, and in some ways it's the more fully realized version of that sound. The band is bigger: Blue Mitchell adds trumpet to the front line alongside Claude Bartee's tenor, and the double percussion of Candido Camero and Richie Landrum gives the grooves a Latin-tinged depth that the earlier funk records don't have.
The version of "A Day in the Life" here is legitimately great: Green takes the Beatles song somewhere genuinely unexpected, building slowly over a slow funk vamp and finding something melancholy and spacious inside it. It's a reminder that the Beatles covers albums weren't just a commercial exercise. Green heard melody in those songs and brought it out.
The original material holds up too. Emmanuel Riggins's organ work is understated in the best way, and Idris Muhammad plays like he was born for this kind of record. Green Is Beautiful is the sound of Grant Green fully inhabiting his second act, and it's a good place to be.
Alive!
Recorded live at the Cliché Lounge in Newark, New Jersey, Alive! is the best argument for Grant Green's funk period and one of the most underrated live jazz records of the early 1970s. Everything that the studio records of this era were building toward comes together here in front of a crowd that clearly knows what they're listening to.
The opening "Sookie Sookie" sets the tone immediately: a deep, rolling groove that doesn't hurry anywhere, with Green's guitar cutting through the organ and drums like a hot knife. Claude Bartee's saxophone is at its best in this setting, raw and rhythmically acute, and Willie Bivens's vibraphone adds a shimmering layer on top. The crowd responses scattered through the recording make it feel like you're actually in the room.
The long, stretched-out versions of the tunes let Green do what he does best: develop ideas slowly over a locked groove, circling back and pushing forward without ever rushing. The studio records of this period are good, but Alive! is where you hear why Grant Green's funk-period work deserved its own chapter. This is the real thing.
Visions
Visions is a slightly more ambitious entry in the funk period catalog, bringing in some more layered arrangements while keeping the groove-first approach that defined Carryin' On and Green Is Beautiful. The band is larger here: Billy Wooten's vibraphone adds a shimmering melodic layer above the groove, and the twin percussion of Idris Muhammad and Harold Caldwell gives the rhythm section a thickness that the earlier funk records don't have.
The title track is the record's peak: a slow, hypnotic groove with Green's guitar sounding almost meditative on top. It's the kind of track that rewards patience. You have to let it breathe before it opens up, but when it does, there's something genuinely beautiful about the interplay between guitar and vibes. Emmanuel Riggins on electric piano fills the harmonic role with a lighter touch than the organ-driven records, and Chuck Rainey's bass locks in with Muhammad's drums to build a foundation that never wavers.
It's not quite at the level of Alive! or The Final Comedown, but Visions shows Green willing to keep evolving within his second-act style rather than just repeating what was working. That instinct served him well throughout this period.
Shades of Green
Shades of Green is a Los Angeles record, and it sounds like one. Recorded at United Artists Studios in West Hollywood with a West Coast rhythm section, it has a different feel from the New York funk dates. Billy Wooten's vibraphone brings a brighter, more open quality than the horn-driven New York sessions, and Emmanuel Riggins's electric piano and clavinet give the harmonies a distinctly early-seventies texture. Wilton Felder and Stix Hooper, both from the Crusaders, anchor the rhythm section with a loose, grooving authority.
Green sounds comfortable and confident here. The extended groove workouts that defined Alive! get a bit more concise on Shades of Green, but that's not necessarily a complaint. Green's solo voice is just as strong, and Riggins's comping creates more harmonic space than the thicker organ work of the earlier records. King Errisson's congas and Harold Caldwell's percussion add a layer of rhythmic detail throughout.
Not everything on this record reaches the peaks of the best funk-period records, but Shades of Green is a solid, enjoyable entry that shows Green still finding new angles on a style he'd made his own. The groove is there throughout, and that's what matters.
The Final Comedown
The Final Comedown is a blaxploitation soundtrack and the peak of Grant Green's funk period in the same breath. Recorded for the 1972 film of the same name, it gave Green a larger canvas to work with: Wade Marcus's arrangements deploy horns, strings, and a full studio rhythm section behind Green's guitar. The result is some of the most direct, emotionally powerful music of his entire career. This is where the groove records of the early 1970s arrive at their destination.
The title track opens with one of the great guitar lines of the era: raw, modal, and completely assured. Green sounds like he's been waiting to make exactly this record. Cornell Dupree's rhythm guitar and Richard Tee's organ lock in underneath, Grady Tate drives the time, and Harold Vick's saxophone and Marvin Stamm's trumpet add drama without distracting from the groove. This is the record where Green's political moment and his musical moment align perfectly.
The Final Comedown is Green at his funkiest and also at his most purposeful. A lot of jazz musicians made funk-influenced records in the early 1970s that sound like they're chasing a trend. This one sounds like the trend was chasing him. Essential, full stop.
Live at The Lighthouse
Recorded at the famous Hermosa Beach club in 1972, Live at The Lighthouse is the West Coast answer to Alive! from 1970, and it's just as compelling. Different band, different room, same essential Grant Green: locked into a groove, patient with his solos, playing melody like it's the only thing that matters.
The version of "The Windjammer" here is something special. Green stretches it out over a slow funk vamp for what feels like as long as the room will allow, and the crowd is right there with him the whole way. Shelton Laster's organ sits lower in the mix than some of Green's earlier organists, giving the guitar more room to breathe.
Live at The Lighthouse and Alive! together make the strongest case for Grant Green's second-act live work. If you're going to pick one, Alive! has a slight edge for the rawness of the Cliché Lounge setting. But this one is essential too, and the looser, more spacious West Coast sound is its own pleasure.
Iron City!
Recorded live at the Crawford Grill in Pittsburgh in 1967, Iron City! was released on the small Cobblestone label in 1972 and flew under the radar for years. It deserves more attention than it gets. The band here is the classic organ trio format: guitar, organ, and drums, no bass. Big John Patton's organ covers both the harmonic and bass functions, and that leaves Green free to stretch out over long, unhurried lines without worrying about comping.
Patton was one of the finest organ players on Blue Note's roster, and his rapport with Green goes back to their shared work in the early sixties. The two lock into grooves that feel lived-in and easy, Ben Dixon driving the time with a loose, rolling feel that suits the club setting perfectly. There's a warmth to this trio that you can only get from musicians who know each other's habits.
Iron City! is a live document of a period in Green's career that isn't as well represented as it should be, the years between the classic Blue Notes and the funk records. It's looser and rougher than the studio work, and that quality is exactly what makes it worth finding.
The Main Attraction
By 1976, Grant Green had moved to Kudu, CTI's soul-jazz subsidiary, and the change in label comes with a change in sound. The Main Attraction is a polished, string-laden production that reflects the era's commercial pressures more than Green's own instincts. David Matthews's orchestral arrangements smooth everything out to a degree that fans of the Blue Note work will find a little unsettling.
Green's guitar is still recognizably his: the tone, the single-note clarity, the feel for melody. But the settings put him in a context that doesn't fully serve him. The string arrangements are well-crafted in their own right, but they muffle the rhythmic directness that made even his funkiest Blue Note work feel alive.
The Main Attraction is a record of its moment more than of its maker. Kudu was making commercially viable jazz-adjacent records in the mid-1970s, and Green fit that brief with his smooth delivery. It's pleasant enough listening. It's just not the Grant Green who made Idle Moments or The Final Comedown.
Easy
Easy is a late-period record that reflects where jazz guitar had been pushed by the late 1970s: smooth surfaces, contemporary pop and soul influences, production choices that prioritize accessibility over the kind of raw directness that defined Green's best work. He sounds comfortable on the record but not particularly challenged.
There are moments here that remind you of what Green could do when the material and context were right. His tone is intact, and on the ballad material especially, the guitar still has that characteristic warmth. But the production keeps everything at arm's length from the emotional core that made the Blue Note records feel essential.
Easy is a record for completists and for people who want to understand the full arc of what happened to Grant Green's career in the years before his death. It's not without pleasures, but it's a long way from Idle Moments, and you feel that distance while listening.