Grant Green: Rediscovering the Forgotten Genuis of Jazz Guitar [Hardcover]

Sharony Andrews Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1999

This biography celebrates the life and music of a jazz guitar genius whose legend continues to grow today. Best known as a session leader and sideman for Blue Note Records in the '60s - he played on nineteen Blue Note sessions in 1961 - Grant Green helped make jazz guitar playing its own art form. His aggressive, rhythmic tone was simultaneously fluid and eloquent, and he moved freely between traditional bop, blues, gospel, Latin, soul, pop-jazz, and funk. Hitting the spotlight at age 25, Green recorded 93 albums from the early '60s through the late '70s, both as a stellar sideman and a leader. He worked with dozens of jazz greats - Herbie Hancock, Stanley Turrentine, Art Blakey, and many others - but his overall contributions to jazz were sorely underrated during his lifetime. Today, his music is sampled by acid-jazz and hip-hop artists such as Public Enemy, Us[subscript 3], and A Tribe Called Quest, and several tribute albums have been recorded. This unique memoir honors Green's personal spirit and musical brilliance through the eyes of his family, close friends, fellow musicians, Blue Note Records staff, music critics, and loving fans of all kinds. This book also paints a revealing portrait of Green's lesser-known struggles with racial and religious barriers, failed marriages, drugs, and the declining health that led to his death in 1979 at age 43.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

During his 1960s prime, jazz guitarist Grant Green was overshadowed by rivals Wes Montgomery and George Benson, two immensely talented players who made successful forays into the pop world. But although Green passed away in 1979, the 1990s have seen a Grant Green renaissance, thanks to the birth of acid jazz, the reemergence of soul jazz, the jazz-reissue boom, and, most importantly, Green's distinctive guitar style--steeped in his R&B roots and boasting a clear, biting, soulful tone that makes him attractive to rock fans. When she met and later married Grant's youngest son, journalist Sharony Andrews Green stumbled into an admirable mission: to shed light on the life and music of her cult-favorite father-in-law. Green-the-author delivers an engaging, casual remembrance that adeptly balances many aspects of Green's life while never delving deeply into any of them. Green-the-guitarist lived in service to an uneasy triumvirate--music, Islam, and heroin--and the author, despite her ties to her subject, pulls no punches in detailing his drug habit and dark side. The book relies on heartfelt anecdotes from friends, family, musicians, and historians to tell his story and provide a clear and compelling picture of the mindset of a black jazz musician. We learn, for example, how many St. Louis jazzmen began to use heroin in admiration of Midwestern idols (and users) such as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, and how Green himself yearned for a wider audience in the late 1960s and changed musical directions in search of it (only to be even more frustrated when it did not come). The easy-going, conversational writing style mostly makes for a warm, emotional memoir, though it loses sophistication when the focus moves toward the author and her biography process. Still, adding a comprehensive sessionography, Green offers a useful primer for a talented musician, opening the door for more thorough investigations of Grant Green's unique guitar technique and stylistic innovations. --Marc Greilsamer

From Library Journal

Green, a novelist, journalist, and former daughter-in-law of her subject, offers an intimate portrait of the great jazz guitarist Grant Green. Interviewing his family and friends, she unearths the story of Green's childhood, his beginnings on guitar, his early musical success in St. Louis, and his conversion to the Muslim faith. She uses discussions with several jazz luminaries to trace Green's trek to New York, his rise to fame among the jazz cognoscenti, his prolific output for such labels as Blue Note, and his subsequent low-key career until his untimely death in 1979. Though she creates a sympathetic portrait, the author directly confronts Green's heroin habit, which led to erratic behavior and the neglect of his family. A well-written, richly illustrated book that will appeal to anyone interested in postwar jazz.ADavid P. Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 274 pages
• Publisher: Backbeat Books (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879305568
• ISBN-13: 978-0879305567
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,962,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars needs some more critical perspective, March 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Grant Green: Rediscovering the Forgotten Genuis of Jazz Guitar (Hardcover)

Sharony Green is trying something interesting here, a biography which is also something of an autobiography. She does a nice job of letting the various people who knew Green speak, and you do get an interesting sense of the man from the book. I have two criticisms. The first is that it goes on and on about how forgotten and unappreciated Green is, which gets tiring after a while. After all, most people who read this book will already think green was a great guitarist. And the guy is one more records than anybody but Milt Hinton--he was hardly unappreciated. He was never as famous as Wes or Benson, but they were more marketable than Green was

The other annoying thing about the book is that it goes on and on about how Green was ripped off. It's true that the white controlled industry is doubly tough on African Americans, and musicians get exploited frequently. But Green never lacked a gig--he worked ALL the time. He had more work in a year, more high quality work, with first rate musicians, than some people get in a decade. So he had money--he was well paid by the standards of his profession. He blew it all in addiction--his sad end came through his own doing. He was a lousy father and husband, and ... his success away. I don't know why, and the book can't say--maybe nobody can. It'd be easy and wrong to understate the power of racism to twist and warp lives, but it's hard to pity Green in some ways. He never lacked for work or recognition in his lifetime, he had prodigious gifts, stunning intelligence and fire (i've spent all afternoon working on his solo on "Speak Low," and I'm more amazed as I go along), but he did himself in, which was maybe nore of a tragedy than if he was done in by racism

It's an interesting and evocative book, that conveys a good sense of the world Green came up in and the world of jazz in the 50s and 60s Worth a read for any jazz fan or lover of Green's great playing

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fair amount of info, not much insight., January 20, 2001

By 

Donald J James (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grant Green: Rediscovering the Forgotten Genuis of Jazz Guitar (Hardcover)

While a good book, and admittedly the only source out there from which one can gain much info about Grant Green, the style is a bit cramped and extremely subjective making it a tough read. Sharony Green conveys a good deal of information about Grant, but at the same time presents it in a stale and not very insightful style. There is a wealth of unwarranted speculation that does little to forward a view of Grant Green, and instead of "Rediscovering the Lost Genius" of Grant Green, the reader feels more as if the author feels a need to validate Grant Green. For that, just pick up "Idle Moments" or "Matador" or any of the other great Green recordings. This validation seems a bit irreverent and at times, didactic.

That being said, the subjectivity of the book lends a viewpoint that is worth noting and there is a vast amount of information regarding Grant collected in the book, though at times it is less than completely accurate (eg. At one point, the author refers to Grant's "I Want to Hold Your Hand" recording as a collection of Beatle and other pop tunes. In fact, the title track is the only pop tune on the LP). The book's discography approaches a comprehensive survey of the recordings available, and the reviews offered at the end of the text are particularly helpful. If this book were part of a larger literature devoted to Grant Green it would be a valuable addition, but as the only extant source for info on Grant Green it misses its mark.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My forty year wait is over!, August 8, 1999

By 

Dan Pollock ([e-mail]) (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grant Green: Rediscovering the Forgotten Genuis of Jazz Guitar (Hardcover)

I've been a record reviewer, feature writer, disc jockey and a professional guitarist for over 42 years and I'm probably the biggest Grant Green fan in the world! For years, I tried to gather any information that I could to learn more about one of my idols to very little avail. Alas, my forty year wiat is over! I have to take umberage with some of the negative comments that I've read about this book at Amazon, which compelled me to comment. I felt very comfortable with Ms. Green's writing style and her telling of the Grant Green story. If you are a diehard jazz fan and especially a Grant Green one then this book would be welcomed with open arms even if it were loaded with faults, which it is not! The only information available for years about this amazing artist were in the liner notes of his albums and a few, very few articles in jazz or guitar periodicals. Even if you are not a big fan of Grant Green's, this book gives you great insight in, not only the man but the period in which jazz truly excelled as America's Art Form, the 50's and 60's. True, there is a lot of text about heroin and his addiction but one has to realize that the role models for Green and other artists of his period were similarly involved and sadly suffered the same fate. All Ms. Green does in her book is tell his story the way she uncovered it, warts and all! She's right on in stating "Redicovering The Forgotten Genius Of Jazz Guitar" and she eloquently leads the way to this rediscovery in her book! Once read, not only will you be a Grant Green fan but a Sharony Andrews Green fan as well.