Blues for Lou

Artist: Grant Green

Number of Discs: 1

Total time: 43:03
Label: Blue Note
Availability: In stock
Item #: 5167180

Available in U.S. only.

List Price: $16.99
Member Price: $11.98

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Review

This pair of 1963 studio sessions by Grant Green remained under wraps until issued as a part of Blue Note's limited edition Jazz Connoisseur series. The guitarist is in fine form, accompanied by organist John Patton and drummer Ben Dixon, starting with a brilliant bop rendition of the popular standard from the Broadway show {#Oklahoma!}, "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top." The soft but intense "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying," and Ray Charles' gospel flavored "This Little Girl of Mine" (an obvious reworking of "This Little Light of Mine") are also highlights. Each member of the trio also contributed one original. The title track was written by the leader, a gritty blues originally recorded at the close of a Lou Donaldson session (which the saxophonist sat out). Patton's "Big John" is a gospel inspired blues, while Dixon's "Look at That Girl" is a strutting R&B number. While this session may not have met producer Alfred Lion's very high standards, it was worthy of release and definitely a worthwhile investment for fans of Grant Green. ~ Ken Dryden, All Music Guide

Read About This Recording

No, he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth but to hear Grant Green play you would think he arrived with a guitar held tightly in his tiny hands. The first thing he learned to play was boogie-woogie and a lot of rock and roll, and he once noted, everything becomes handy in music.

It is this early philosophy that led him to become one of the superb guitarists of his era and beyond. His strong string voice always jumps with adventurous rhythms that are displayed in grand fashion on these unreleased eight tracks of Blues for Lou. His superb finger dexterity roaming in a sea of soul makes each song from Rogers and Hammerstein's "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top" to Lloyd Price's hit R&B single "Personality," a special Green event.

Green's music is an intense combustion of his heart and soul that spills into the big dipper of jazz suspended somewhere between heaven and earth. The album was named in honor of Lou Donaldson, one of his mentors who also from the beginning understood the soul of jazz. Get ready to bop or swing in Green style.

—Ron Scott

The Surrey With the Fringe On Top; Blues For Lou; Big John; Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying; Look At That Girl; This Little Girl Of Mine; Personality; Have You Ever Had the Blues.

Grant Green, Guitar; Big John Patton, Organ; Ben Dixon, Drums.

Tracks + Soundclips

Blues for Lou
	1. Surrey With the Fringe on Top	5:04
	2. Blues for Lou	4:40
	3. Big John	7:24
	4. Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying	6:55
	5. Look at That Girl	4:18
	6. This Little Girl of Mine	6:28
	7. Personality	3:46
	8. Have You Ever Had the Blues	4:28