Grant Green - Am I Blue

[robertoart]

re- Clunkys mention of Am I Blue in another thread. What is the verdict on this session. The reason I ask is because I have devoured virtually every Grant Green recording like a starving man at a feast. Except for possibly this one. I first heard it through a Toshiba RVG cd release in the early 90's, and despite subsequently finding and buying every recording on original vinyl release, this one remains the orphan of my collection. I recently wondered if it's because of the fact that the cover might freak me out somewhat. It doesn't look like Grant Green at all. And i've even wondered if it's actually Elvin Jones with a guitar in hand (he was known to play guitar). Or is it just a strange Alfred Lion photo edit. Could this be an unconscious reason that this session is a stranger to me, or is it actually the music? All the ducks are in line otherwise. GG, John Patton. the monolith that is Joe Henderson. etc etc. 

Edited June 5, 2016 by robertoart

[robertoart]

the etc. etc. of course is the redoubtable Johnny Coles and the treasure that is Ben Dixon.

[Homefromtheforest]

I love Grant Green but never bothered picking this one up.  It's sort of a (running for cover right now) boring session.

Give me "Sunday morning", "idle moments", "talkin about", etc any day.

On paper it should be killer but...yeah..just does not excite me.

[JSngry]

The older I get, the more I like it. The last time though (last year, maybe), it threatened to turn into love. I am fully ready to consummate next time around.

So...don't give up on it. It reveals its charms in a most deliberate manner.

[mjzee]

I've always loved it, ever since I owned the LP on Applause.  So soulful.  Start with the last track: "For All We Know."  That and "Take These Chains From My Heart" are worth the price by themselves.

[JSngry]

My "problem" with it was entirely self-imposed, it was one of expectations. As I recall, it was not easily available for me until the Applause issue. And by then, you know, I had heard all kinds of Grant Green and all kinds of Joe Henderson, apart and together, so this was gonna be more of that, right?

Well, no, no it was not. So...my assumption was that it was a failed record because of that. But then I heard about how Alfred Lion played it on his deathbed or something like that, and that got me to revisit with different ears, and it took a while to really tske, because that is one of the most...humble jazz records ever made, intentionally humble playing by players who did not make humble records, I mean, Joe Henderson here is Not trying to assert Joe Henderson onto the face of this music, he is just there to be a deliverer, and it's a little disorienting to deal with a fully engaged unassertive Joe Henderson, if you know what I mean, same thing with the rest of the band. Usally music that is this unassertive is brought by players who are equally unengaged. Not so here, and yes, the fuller appreciation of that has been slow in coning, but better late than never.

[jlhoots]

This has been debated many times. I think it's very good.

[Homefromtheforest]

Points taken.  I'll revisit maybe when I'm 75

Or sooner...

[JSngry]

Yeah, I just turned 60 last year, and 75 seems laughably unreachable, so maybe sooner than later, just because.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

 Idle Moments, always makes the top 20 best blue notes of all time-lists, with its slow long drawn out jam........

but Am I Blue gets the shaft, when its very similar in presentation.  like idle moments, am i blue also features an epic long ballad..... some albums are freaking cannonized, and others are detested.   

i definetly prefer Am I Blue, although i like both.  idle moments is great with duke p and bobby....but Am I Blue has BJP!!!!

[six string]

Like the OP, I consider myself a big fan and I too do not own this, nor have I heard the album.  Why did I dance around that title?

still.......Can it atand next to Matador, Idle Momemts, Street Of Dream, Solid, Talkin' About?  While I'm confessin', I don't own I Want To Hold Your Hand either.  

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

could possibly be the lp is harder to track down than some.   the liberty issue is prob as scarce as the orig.  theres also a 70s on "applause"

[sidewinder]

I've got an Applause copy (West Edmonton Mall, 50 cents Canadian i.e. zilch)..... and a mono original !

Not one I spin a great deal but nice to have.

[Gheorghe]

Yeah, the 90´s and the Toshiba Mini-LP album covers. We still had two record shops in Viena, one of them was the Virgin and it seemed they were specialized in Japan-Import Blue Note.

And I was kind of a BN Freak then. Sure, "Am I Blue" was not my first Grant Green album, but I liked it, tough the best thing is the title tune. Not every tune is of same interest.

And sometimes I´m in the mood to listen to this. But my favourit on Grant Green with Organ is "I wanna hold your Hand" with Larry Young and Hank Mobley. That´s the best of all.

And, my wife liked those two title tunes from those two albums. Sounds like musical love poems, she said when she heard it for the first time.....

[mjzee]

8 hours ago, six string said:

still.......Can it stand next to Matador, Idle Moments, Street Of Dream, Solid, Talkin' About?  

The difference is one of mood.  The albums you mention are fairly "up" in spirit... AIB is somber, taking its time to speed up - its fastest numbers are still fairly slow.  Maybe for some that's why it didn't make much of an impression upon first listening.  Look at Grant on the cover - that's all you need to know about this album.

Edited June 6, 2016 by mjzee

[Brad]

I haven't listened to it in years but may be worth another listen with all this talk.  Idle Moments in non pareil but Feeling the Spirit is very good.

[JSngry]

10 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

could possibly be the lp is harder to track down than some.   the liberty issue is prob as scarce as the orig.  theres also a 70s on "applause"

That was my experience. It was a bitch to find until the Applause issue came out. and then, as noted, what people like myself were conditioned to expect from a record on that label with those people...a more proper emotional/musical context had to be reestablished, the existing, learned one was not relevant to this record.

For those who want them, there are "narratives" to a lot of these records based on availabilities at any given time, up to the big CD reissue boom of the late-80s/eraly-90s. If that's all you knew, then it's easy to look at it like these things were always available more or less all at once, and that was SO not the case.

[six string]

3 hours ago, mjzee said:

The difference is one of mood.  The albums you mention are fairly "up" in spirit... AIB is somber, taking its time to speed up - its fastest numbers are still fairly slow.  Maybe for some that's why it didn't make much of an impression upon first listening.  Look at Grant on the cover - that's all you need to know about this album.

Thanks for the reply.  I don't consider those albums I mentioned to be "up" albums necessarily.  Street Of Dreams, Idle Moments and Matador for example have theor fair share of mellow tunes but if Am I Blue is more somber in mood than those albums that tells me what I need to know.  I enjoy quieter moods in my music sometimes, like now, having been awake for less than two hours.  Idle Moments (title track) and a cup of tea or coffee in the mornng = bliss. 

[king ubu]

I love it, but it took me years ... guess a similar story as with JSgnry, xept 35 or so was late enough in my case ("sooner", I thus guess )

[clifford_thornton]

13 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

 Idle Moments, always makes the top 20 best blue notes of all time-lists, with its slow long drawn out jam........

but Am I Blue gets the shaft, when its very similar in presentation.  like idle moments, am i blue also features an epic long ballad..... some albums are freaking cannonized, and others are detested.   

I haven't listened to either album in years, but I'm kind of with chewy here.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

As I sit here crunching data into pivot tables, I'm spinning "Am I Blue" and trying like hell to stay awake. I think it's Patton's long sustains that's doing it. I mean, I really love slow blues, especially with Green - the aforementioned "Idle Moments" comes to mind. Turrentine's "Blue Hour" and Burrell's "Midnight Blue" never do this to me. Can it be that organ with its drone-like sound?

I can also see why Lion liked to listen to this "on his deathbed". It had to make it easier to let go and fall asleep that one last time.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Kevin Bresnahan

[JSngry]

Dude, don't fear The Reaper.

[rdavenport]

I need to get this. I like Grant Green, I like Joe Henderson, I like a bit of soporific music, and I always liked "For All We Know", which makes me wonder why I don't already have it.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

14 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

As I sit here crunching data into pivot tables, I'm spinning "Am I Blue" and trying like hell to stay awake. I think it's Patton's long sustains that's doing it, i mean, I really love slow blues, especially with Green (the aforementioned "Idle Moments" comes to mind). Turrentine's "Blue Hour" and Burrell's "Midnight Blue" never do this to me. Can it be that organ with its drone-like sound?

I can also see why Lion liked to listen to this "on his deathbed". It had to make it easier to let go and fall asleep that one last time.

 

hey!  that last sentance-------whats that about, lion enjoyed listening to Am I Blue to relax, in his older years, you have heard?  just wanted to clairfy. maybe it was one of his favorites then

[Kevin Bresnahan]

6 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

hey!  that last sentance-------whats that about, lion enjoyed listening to Am I Blue to relax, in his older years, you have heard?  just wanted to clairfy. maybe it was one of his favorites then

Jim Sangrey is the one who mentioned this in one of his earlier posts. I seem to remember reading it myself but don't remember where I read it. Maybe Jim can recall where this was said? It was probably one of the many interviews with Michael Cuscuna.