Grant Green's First Session Was for Vee Jay?

[Dan Gould]

Over ath the Blindman's Blues board, I just noticed this statement:

(Grant Green's first session was supposedly an unissued Tommy Dean date for Vee-Jay, so there are a couple things in the Vee-Jay vaults for some sleuth to investigate.)

Anyone here heard this rumor before? Any hope that its true?

I could see a special Mosaic Single for this: Grant's unreleased session plus the 45 Baby Face Willette cut.

[Big Beat Steve]

In the liner notes to Tommy Dean's LP "Deanie Boy Plays Hot Rhythm and Blues" (Official 6038) Dave Penny wrote the following in Jan. 1989 (i.e. 17 years ago!):

"In October 1956 and May 1958, Tommy Dean was lured back to the recording studios on behalf of Vee Jay Records to record nine tracks of promising-looking instrumentals with guitarists Grant Green and Lefty Bates, respectively, but both sessions remain entirely unissued."

Sounds pretty concrete, and I'd say Dave Penny is somebody who knows his stuff in this field of music.

[Dan Gould]

In the liner notes to Tommy Dean's LP "Deanie Boy Plays Hot Rhythm and Blues" (Official 6038) Dave Penny wrote the following in Jan. 1989 (i.e. 17 years ago!):

"In October 1956 and May 1958, Tommy Dean was lured back to the recording studios on behalf of Vee Jay Records to record nine tracks of promising-looking instrumentals with guitarists Grant Green and Lefty Bates, respectively, but both sessions remain entirely unissued."

Sounds pretty concrete, and I'd say Dave Penny is somebody who knows his stuff in this field of music.

thanks Steve. I wonder if the sessions survived at all. I would think that when Grant became a "name" again, that would have been the perfect opportunity for Vee Jay - or Collectables, who owns the American rights to reissues, to put the disc out.

Then again, they put out five discs of Vee Jay blues recordings but never bothered to include the Baby Face Willette singles, so maybe they just don't know what they have.

[Randy Twizzle]

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