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How 'Bout Some Love For Dick Griffin?


JSngry

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I dig his LPs on Strata-East & Trident quite a bit. I like his writing too - very "populist" in nature, simple. singable lines with nice changes that you can do as much (or as little) with as you want. I like his choice of sidemen (Sam Rivers, Gary Bartz, Stanley Cowell, Clifford Jordan, Freddie Waits, Cecil McBee, among others) and I like how they treat the material - they give it full integrety and don't "play down" to it at all. Seems like real "people music" to me.

I don't know that Dick Griffin is necessarily an "outstanding" trombonist per se, and truthfully, those recordss work for me because of the material and the sidemen (Sam Rivers has is a TOTAL GAS on flute on EIGHTH WONDER) a lot more than they do becasue of Griffin himself. But on those two albums (reissued on Konnex CD), I sure like his music, the overall package. This, not smooth or other such silliness, is how to "play jazz for the people" , or at least it was a few decades ago. Seems like those albums (and the CD reissues) came and went without much notice. Haven't yet heard his last album, a 1999 organ thing w/Larry Goldings, but I probably should.

Anybody else dig the music of Dick Griffin?

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Jim, I hear ya and I agree. I've had a copy of The Eighth Wonder for a long time but due to bubbles in the pressing I have only listened to it a couple of times. Picked up the two Konnex issues last year (Cadence has 'em). One thing that's kind of funny, when Cadence reviewed the Konnex releases (quite some time ago now) the reviewer didn't identify the material with Sam Rivers as originally from Strata East, out of character for them.

Is the stuff with Clifford Jordan from the Trident label? If so could you send the dates of recording? Thanks. Trdient issued a personal favorite, Keno Duke with George Coleman and Frank Strozier, has that ever made it to cd?

Edited by Tom in RI
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I love the trombone so I'm slightly biased, but Griffin is a fine player. Unfortunately I've not heard the Trident album. He ws in the UK with Abdullah Ibrahim in the late 80s and it was good to hear him live. He's on Ibrahim's Blackhawk album "Ekaya"

Dick's also on the two rather neglected (imo) Hilton Ruiz Group cds, featuring Sam Rivers, on RCA.

Edited by JohnS
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  • 4 years later...

Up! after 4.5 years

Much love here.

Griffin sound and music add a lot to Rahsaan's Volunteered Slavery and the Inflated Tear. Also his collaboration with Abdullah Ibrahim are worth mentioning, especially all those live-private recordings. And of course The Eighth Wonder on Strata, to which I'm very partial.

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Guest Bill Barton

Much love here... I'm a big fan of his recordings with Rahsaan and Abdullah Ibrahim too as well as his solo stuff. He's got some serious soul. Bright Moments to Mr. Griffin wherever he may be.

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I enjoy Griffin's work with Abdullah Ibrahim. He has a very nice sound. On "African Marketplace," which is a large ensemble work, you notice Griffin cutting through the sound to play his piece, which really makes the whole composition flow. I also got a chance to see him with Ibrahim at Town Hall (Ricky Ford was also in the band).

http://www.dickgriffin.info/

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Guest Bill Barton

Actually, Dick was quite ill for awhile, but he is doing fine now.

I recall reading about his illness awhile back. Glad to hear he's healthy again!

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Anybody else dig the music of Dick Griffin?

Absotively. Had the good fortune to talk with him and Eddie Gale over dinner about a year-and-a-half ago. It was like a trip through a period I was not lucky enough to live through. Dick's playing and writing always struck me as very honest. I think NOW IS THE TIME is one of the most played records (along with Pharoah's JOURNEY TO THE ONE) I've ever owned. Dick's sort of like Mal Waldron -- no technique, just pure heart (clearly an over-simplification, as multi-phonics most definitely qualify as technique).

I was luke-warm on his artwork until hearing him discuss it. It's very interesting what he's trying to express, and much like his music, it's very honest.

Modern musicians should be listening to more of this sort of stuff from the 70s, IMHO. The music seems to have stagnated a great deal, and it's largely because the educational establishment has everyone looking back to the 60s and before. All that music is great, but it doesn't have a heck of a lot to do with our current way of living. I think if more musicians were exposed to the Strata-East era stuff, the music would benefit greatly.

With that, I'll rank myself as a certified Dick Griffin *fan*.

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I'm getting a weird box where Mike Weil's post is, and the only way I can see the rest of the thread is to click the "Other Options" button, which takes me to this posting box.

It's odd, there's no other thread where this is happening...

Firefox? The posts are all there in the html-code but aren't displayed in Firefox (2.0.0.12). Opera and IE6 render that page correctly though. There must be some error in the generated html. Well, who cares...

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