His Majesty King Funk & Up With Donald Byrd

Grant Green, Donald Byrd | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 23, 1995)
• Original Release Date: May 23, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000001EEP
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,453 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag of Grant and Donald treats 3.5 stars, October 23, 2000

By 

"williedynamite" - See all my reviews

This review is from: His Majesty King Funk & Up With Donald Byrd (Audio CD)

Donald Byrd and Grant green were two jazz/funk innovators. His majesty king funk/ Up were orriginally albums by the both of them that were originally released seperately. For what ever reason the cd generation gets the pleasure of hearing both albums on one cd. Sounds good, real good don't it. UH-OH! Too good to be true.. Not exactly. The first album his majesty king funk is grant green near or at the top of his game. It's standard green. It opens with the mid- tempo selma watch which is followed by a jazz standard weep a willow for me which grant of course makes into something all his own. Cantaloupe woman is a staple of grant green best of collections and a welcome addition here. Daddy grapes, the sole original piece is also worth a listen. The real treat of listening to this album is to listen to grant's version of That Lucky Old Sun which when given the green treatment takes on a life of it's own I'd give the grant green protion of the Cd 4 stars.

The Donald Byrd album Up is honestly one of his weaker albums but it has one giant plus. The problem isn't Byrds playing it's impeccable as usual. the problem is his use or overuse of the byrd singers. It seemed as thiough he was trying to capture a mainstream audience by using vocalists where they don't belong. Actually their voices wouldn't be that bad had they been used sparringly. On blind man blind man and house of the rising sun they actually don't sound that bad. But onb the two blues numbers that DB covers the results are embarrasing. (See see rider and boom boom, my babe) But there is a silver lining in this somewhat clouded album. On the Cd there is an alternate version of Cantaloupe island which is easily the best song on this album. I give the Donald Byrd part 3 stars Add the two and divide by two and that 3.5 stars. A good album but not a must have unless you are a grant green fan.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good One..., July 20, 2005

By 

M. Conklin (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: His Majesty King Funk & Up With Donald Byrd (Audio CD)

his majesty king funk was green's only recording for verve. on it, green heads a tight quintet, that includes harold vick on tenor sax /flute, larry young on organ, ben dixon on drums and candido camero on the congas, through a number of funky cuts and a couple of soulful ballads. it's comparable to his latter soul and boogaloo material on blue note, such as green is beautiful, but lacks the rawness and spontaneous interaction of some of those late 60s/early 70s recordings (for better or worse). green mostly focuses on standards, but this recording was in his pre-r&b era, so the standards are more jazz-oriented and less pop. it's polished and even a bit schmaltzy at times, but green's playing and is on the money. young and vick are equally as good. it's a fairly strong outing, but green put out many similar (some better) albums on blue note and muse and this one is easily lost in the masses.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent and a hlaf, January 3, 2012

By 

Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber Print DJ ... (Mahwah, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: His Majesty King Funk & Up With Donald Byrd (Audio CD)

Certain artists are dependable workhorses--you can bet their albums will be great if not classie. Verve's (like Blue Note's) 1960s roster had plenty of these: you may not have gotten the black and orange hot innovations of ABC Impulse, but were in for great hard bop if not straight jazz with some avant guard invention.

This split album of Grant Green and Donald Byrd is case and point. The Green work here presented is workman's jazz funk, featuring the guitarists exquisite take on blues. If new to Green, don't expect a wha wha fest--this was still the mid-1960s, and Green worked wonders with only a hollow body guitar, and a band featuring Larry Young on organ. They work the organic syncopation like a voodoo charm--pretty much the sound Green retained through his career.

Byrd here revs the invention a notch: listen to his take on "Blind Man, Blind Man" where he uses a huge vocal section to add to the blues. These types of vocals were used in "square" music--Bing Crosby, Four Freshman, but Byrd makes them swing and kick. An antiquated technique then, it sounds fresh NOW! due to Byrd's application.

This album may not be well known but if any label were known for music like this, that could never be bad thing.