 Grant Green Prime mid-period Grant Green, slightly past the hot streak that gave us classics like Sunday Mornin', Feelin' the Spirit, The Latin Bit, Idle Moments, and several others, but falling before the dawn of the groove era. Grant's albums from the mid 60s tended to offer up the same ol' pleasures – hardly as paint-by-numbers as Jimmy Smith got during the same period, but Grant was hardly pushing himself or really being pushed. What's nice about Talkin' About is that it's almost more of a Larry Young album, with Young's organ providing the more interesting solos, while Green plays like we know he can play. The trio is rounded out by Elvin Jones on drums, who plays more straight-ahead here than on the Coltrane quartet albums he's known for. Five tunes, all pretty subtle and understated. Nothing grabs you, throws you up against the wall, and starts punching you furiously in the stomach like some of Grant's other albums do, but then that's not always what you're looking for. Mainly standards, played with class and a little dash: "People," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "I'm an Old Cowhand" – all good, but better are the two Larry Young originals, "Talkin' About J.C." and "Luny Tune." The former kicks off the album with almost twelve minutes of tribute to John Coltrane, Larry Young's idol and the musician he's most often compared to. This tune rollicks and bends, shakes and swirls like nothing else on the record. Green lays down his best solos here, so does Young. "Luny Tune" has more of a Monk flavor, and is much more driven by Young than Green. It's a wonder why the session was not issued under Young's name (I think it's collected on Mosaic's Larry Young box set, actually). But that said, it's not meant to imply that Green is incapacitated alongside the great organist, but rather, he seems to be caught in a personal trap of simply being Grant Green, one of the best jazz guitarists around. He'd recorded so much amazing music in the previous two years, it was inevitable he'd hit a phase where the notes just weren't dropping jaws anymore. It's like seeing a magician perform a phenomenal trick ten times – it's still amazing, but you're like, "OK, something new please." Grant Green would find more to say a couple years on, but at this point he was closing out the first part of a great career. Even so, average Grant Green records are still way above the truly average musician's great ones. I don't find myself "talkin' about" this record all that much, but when it's on, man, I'm surely bouncing my head in encouragement.
Review by Ache Benderson |