Grant Green - Nigeria - LP

Grant Green – Nigeria

Label:    Blue Note – B0031299-01, Blue Note – LT-1032
Series:    Blue Note Tone Poet Series
Format:    Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo, 180g, Gatefold
Country:    Worldwide
Released:    Feb 28, 2020
Genre:    Jazz
Style:    Hard Bop

Grant Green’s Nigeria is an under-recognized gem in the guitarist’s remarkable Blue Note catalog. Recorded in 1962, but not first released until 1980, the album features a top-shelf band with Sonny Clark on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and, in one of his only appearances with Green, Art Blakey on drums. The groove is deep and wide right from the start on the Sonny Rollins classic “Airegin” followed by a version of the Gershwin standard “It Ain’t Necessarily So” for the ages with Blakey stoking the fire with his powerhouse drumming and verbal shouts. Side B presents timeless renditions of 3 more standards: “I Concentrate On You,” “The Things We Did Last Summer,” and “The Song Is You.”

THE TONE POET VINYL SERIES PART 10: GRANT GREEN

• Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on 13th January 1962
• Recorded in 1962 but not originally released until 1980
• Classic ‘lost’ hard-bop album from the guitar legend
• Featuring an all-star band of Sonny Clark (piano), Art Blakey (drums) and Sam Jones (bass)
• Repertoire includes Sonny Rollins’ ‘Airegin’, a brilliant take on Ira & George Gershwins’ ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’, Cole Porter’s ‘I Concentrate On You’ and Kern/Hammerstein’s ‘The Song Is You’
• Produced by BN co-founder Alfred Lion
• Liner notes by renowned pianist/vocalist Ben Sidran and session photography by Steve Smith