I hate these long riffy intros they me want to scream because they are just the opposite of what jazz should be: inventive, non-repetitive, inspired and so on. Just play! Anyway, the roff head seemed to have nothing to do with what followed. BWT, when Grant does cuts loose, he's great.
A while ago i was waching a masterclass with a saxophonist and it keeps talkin' about how grant green build all of his solos using only the same six lines and i think this recording is a great example that shows how it is ok to trust your licks haha... don't get me wrong of course i like coltrane too not only from parker the man lives...
Right from the start the premise is interesting, it a shorthand for a classical concerto, where the soloist plays a brief passage, (solo), then the orchestra (tutti) replies in kind.
Then, like a Brandenburg Concerto, the 5th in D for harpsichord - for example - it breaks into a less formalistick jam, then gradually breaks down to where the bass is the principle focus.
The tension of the ensemble is maximized by the fact that the drummer stays on the rear edge of the beat, while Grant and his bassist stay on the front end.
Tremendous ebullience and colour in this playing, Mr. Green was one of those artists who is at his very peak at a time in life when most are just beginning to figure out what to do with all the ability their practice has given them.
At a time when Jazz was becoming impossibly complicated, Mr. Green kept it spare and presented it's best aspects for delection.
