Customer Reviews

His Majesty King Funk & Up With Donald Byrd

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The Grant Green portion of this disc is beautifully recorded and features some fine performances by him and by Larry Young. If you have the Larry Young Mosaic box, this disc will complete it nicely.

The Donald Byrd album is marred somewhat by background vocals, which were overdubbed later; why didn't the reissue producer remove them? After a couple of listens, you can easily ignore the vocals and concentrate on some very good performances, especially by Jimmy Heath.

Good selection of solid jazz tunes/songs. Sone are slightly annoying, like 'see see rider' but most are worth listening to.

The Grant Green portion of this disc is excellent. It's very well recorded and features some great, burning performances by Green and by Larry Young. If you own the Larry Young box set done a few years ago by Mosaic, this disc will complete it nicely.

The Donald Byrd portion is marred somewhat by the presence of a vocal trio. Since the vocals were overdubbed later, I wondered why the reissue producer didn't remove them. It takes a few listens before you can ignore the vocals and concentrate on some good playing, especially by Jimmy Heath and Kenny Burrell. Somewhat muddily recorded, though.

If you like Grant Green or Larry Young, you'll want to have this.

i started to give this disc only four stars, but only because i feared that the other reviewers might catch up to me in some dark alley one night! but i gotta be me and give this thang here 5 stars...

it proly only deserves four, it's not a GREAT album or a classic album or anything... however, i really dont have any complaints with it... they say that 'acid jazz' has it's roots with these two albums and i think that's a justified statement... (side note: i think modern era acid jazz is nearly garbage tho!)...

traditionalists need to stay the hellaway from this disc... on a whole, yall aint gonna like it... this was meant to be radio-friendly-music and i think it might appeal to the ladies (smooth jazz has its origins in this type of music also!)...

if your jazz tastes lean toward the 'eclectic', then you might want to give this a try....

This Disc is Manily Highlighted By Grant Green who sets the Pace really Highly.Donald Byrd's is good but Green really stands out here.Overall Very Essential Music.

For the inordinately curious.

The Grant Green album is far superior to the Donald Byrd session, which isn't saying a whole lot.