Grant Green Blue Breakbeats CD

In the '70s, guitarist Grant Green turned to an R&B and funk style in order to keep up with the times and invite as wide an audience as possible. At the time, critics cried foul at what they called "selling out" and disavowed Green from their critical radar. Fast forwarding to the '90s, this period of Green's career became in great demand as the "acid jazz" craze came into vogue. BLUE BREAKBEATS collects some of Green's more revered works from this period. These are the tracks that DJs constantly sample and loop to form new electronically manipulated works.

To be sure, the grooves here are gritty and the melodies, what little there are, are simple and brash, but the determined mood and downright funkiness is nothing to sneeze at. Cuts like James Brown's "Ain't It Funky Now" and the immensely popular "Sookie Sookie" are staples in any self-respecting DJ's arsenal. The driving beats of Ben Dixon's "Cantaloupe Woman" and the stunning "The Final Comedown" offer plenty of fertile sampling opportunities as well. Overall, though, this is a celebration of Green's late-period talent that didn't get its just desserts in his time.

This is part of the Blue Note Blue Breakbeats series.

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey between January 30, 1970 and May 21, 1971; A&R Recording Studios, New York, New York on December 13, 1971; live at the Cliche Lounge, Newark, New Jersey on August 15, 1970. Includes liner notes by DJ Smash.

Compilation producer: Bob Belden.

Engineers include: Rudy Van Gelder, Don Hahn.

Personnel: Grant Green (guitar); Phil Bodner (woodwinds); Harold Vick (soprano saxophone); Claude Bartee, Jr. (tenor saxophone); Irwin "Marky" Markowitz, Marvin Stamm, Blue Mitchell (trumpet); Clarence Palmer, Emanuel Riggins (electric piano); Neal Creque, Ronnie Foster (organ); Richard Tee (keyboards); Billy Wooten, William Bivens (vibraphone); Chuck Rainey, Gordon Edwards, Jimmy Lewis (electric bass); Grady Tate, Idris Muhammad (drums); Ray Armando, Joseph Armstrong, Candido Camero (congas); Richard Landrum (bongos); Ralph MacDonald (percussion).

Recording information: A&R Studios, New York, NY (01/30/1970-12/13/1971); Cliche Lounge, Newark, NJ (01/30/1970-12/13/1971); Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (01/30/1970-12/13/1971).

Photographer: Francis Wolff.

Personnel: Grant Green (guitar); Harold Vick (soprano saxophone); Claude Bartee (tenor saxophone); Blue Mitchell, Marvin Stamm, Irv Markowitz (trumpet); Phil Bodner (woodwinds); Billy Wooten, Willie Bivens (vibraphone); Emmanuel Riggins, Clarence Palmer (electric piano); Earl Neal Creque, Ronnie Foster (organ); Richard Tee (keyboards); Cornell Dupree (guitar); Jimmy Lewis, Chuck Rainey, Gordon Edwards (electric bass); Idris Muhammad, Grady Tate (drums); Richard Landrum (bongos); Candido Camero, Ray Armando, Joseph Armstrong (congas); Ralph McDonald (percussion).

Producers: Francis Wolff, George Butler.