THE CROSSROADS Grant Green’s phrasing
In this month’s Crossroads, John Wheatcroft explores the propulsive power of repetition via the playing style of legendary Blue Note powerhouse, Grant Green.
John Wheatcroft demonstrates how jazz guitar legend Grant Green uses repetitive ideas to creat compelling jazzy-blues phrases.
Grant Green arrived in New York in the late 1950s and for the next two decades, until his premature death in 1979, was one of the most prolific and influential jazz guitar players on the scene. Green’s playing style brought life, energy, soul and sophistication to countless gigs and recording sessions, both as a leader and side-man. He spent many years as the Blue Note Records house guitarist, with a style that was at all times authentic, original, innovative, creative, funky, soulful and constantly evolving. Both Wes Montgomery and George Benson were huge fans, with Benson stating for the record that Grant was his personal favourite guitar player.
Contributing to over one hundred albums and at least 30 as a leader, Grant’s playing had both swing and groove. There was directness to his single-note lines and at times his sound could be primal and raw but, make no mistake; he could be sophisticated and articulate when he wanted to. You can clearly hear his two big jazz influences, guitarist Charlie Christian and alto saxophone genius Charlie Parker, but he also loved James Brown and this came out in his music loud and clear, particularly in the later period. There was also a strong blues and gospel feeling to his playing, with tons of Pentatonic action and he favoured single notes peppered with the occasional doublestop, rather than use octaves like Wes, or chord fragments like George.
Grant was one of the first jazz guitarists to really explore long solos, with a propulsive rhythmic energy, a dynamic sense of intent and a commitment and conviction to everything that he played. One concept that he exploited heavily, particularly in his transitional mid-period and his later funkier style was the use of repetition. Rather then consider repeating an idea as some form of improvisational weakness, Grant used this remarkably simple but highly effective tool to create a form of rhythmic momentum, tension and dynamic build and energy.
Phrases were looped round and round, sometimes with motific variation, sometimes repositioned in the bar to shift around in relation to the underlying pulse or just explicitly repeated wholesale, connecting a series of ideas end to end to produce an exhilarating and hypnotic groove that drew the listener in. You never quite know when each idea will end, or where he might go next. Grant’s playing is full of unexpected twists and turns. I only wish that I could have seen him really tear the roof off in person, but his energy and excitement comes across loud and clear on the numerous live recordings we fortunately have access to.
The musical examples that follow are divided into four main sections. The first is a collection of five Grant Green cyclic ideas. For the sake of space we’ve limited the number of repeats, as in action Grant might stretch any of these ideas out for a minute or two. In Examples 2 and 3, we see how such repetitious ideas have been exploited by 10 other iconic players, five the world of jazz and five classic rock and blues lines. We round this study up with a full, cohesive solo that contextualises some of these repetitious ideas in a jazzy, funky 12-bar solo in the key of E Minor. As always, enjoy.
“I strive to get that natural feeling. That’s what I strive for, to be able to do anything. Always play the best I can.” GRANT GREEN