Grant Green

The masterpiece. Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, and Duke Pearson stretch the title track to nearly fifteen unhurried minutes because nobody wanted to stop, and Green's clean, patient single-note lines have never sounded better. The record everyone starts with.

A 1964 sextet date left in the vault for fifteen years, and one of the great lost Blue Notes. Joe Henderson and James Spaulding on the front line, McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones in the rhythm section. It should have been a flagship release; instead it became a collector's prize.

Green fronting most of the classic Coltrane rhythm section: McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw, and Elvin Jones. A reading of My Favorite Things that answers Coltrane on his own turf, and the most adventurous record Green made in the sixties. Shelved until 1979.

A late-night quartet with Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Larry Young on organ, and Elvin Jones on drums. Four standards played slow and warm, the vibes and organ wrapping around Green's guitar. One of the most atmospheric records in the catalog.

Green stripped to a trio with just bass and drums, no chordal instrument to lean on. It puts every note on him, and he carries it easily. The early date that proved he could hold a whole record by himself, and a fan favorite for exactly that reason.

Recorded live at the Cliche Lounge in Newark, this is the funk-era Green at full stretch: Ronnie Foster on organ, Idris Muhammad on drums, and grooves that run long and deep. The crowd is right there with him. One of the best documents of his second act.

A 1962 date with Ike Quebec and Sonny Clark, both of whom would be gone within a couple of years, held back until 1985. Quebec's big tenor and Clark's bluesy piano make it one of the warmest sessions Green ever cut. A quiet, beautiful record.

Green takes the songbook to the rhythm section of Willie Bobo and Carlos "Patato" Valdes, with Ike Quebec sitting in on tenor. Mambos and bossas played with his usual clean attack. A change of pace that turned out to be one of his most purely fun records.

The first of the great Green organ-trio sides with Larry Young and Elvin Jones. Young was pushing the organ somewhere new and Elvin brought the Coltrane fire, and Green rides it all with his unhurried cool. The start of one of the era's best small groups.

His debut as a leader, an organ-trio date with Baby Face Willette and Ben Dixon plus Fred Jackson on tenor. Soul-jazz with the grease still on it, and a clear announcement of the clean, swinging guitar voice that would define the next decade of Blue Note.