Grant Green - Street of Dreams (1965) [Blue Note]

One of my top ten favorite jazz albums, it captures a certain feel of West Coast Cool. It's mellow music but there is complexity and brilliance to Green's guitar work that gives the music an intricacy and vigor worth listening to over and over again. Smooth but not flaccid. But this album would be an important part of your jazz collection even without appreciating the cryptic subtleties that lend it weight. It works just as well on a simpler level, purely on it's charming, hypnotic sound. Green's guitar solos float buoyantly over the smooth sounds of Larry Young's organ work, accented by Bobby Hutcherson's vibes and an appropriately restrained Elvin Jones on drums. Don't believe me? Sample track 3, Streets of Dreams, and see.

Cduniverse.com:
Next to the immensely popular IDLE MOMENTS, STREET OF DREAMS is quite possibly Grant Green's most significant Blue Note album. Returning from the earlier IDLE MOMENTS session is the always-intriguing Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone, an excellent match for Green's melodic guitar. Also reappearing from a previous session, the lesser-known TALKIN' ABOUT, are organ wonder Larry Young and the incomparable Elvin Jones on drums.

Although Green is the leader here, this is a quartet of masters, and the result is a magical session. Green's clean tone defines the foreground of the four selections on this set with Hutcherson's vibes providing a shimmering backdrop. Young and Jones, meanwhile, hold together a sonic tug-of-war that ebbs and flows like a rhythmic tide. Green is at his best on the opening "I Wish You Love" and the bouncing title track, with smartly conceived melodic statements and authoritative rhythmic precision. Hutcherson and Young also shine on concise solo spots of their own, following Green's lead with their own highly individual styles. Ultimately, though this is a brief session, it contains a wealth of masterful performances that typify the golden age of hard bop.

Reviewer:
Perhaps it's a bit odd that while the 1950s and 1960s threw up many notable guitarists--Montgomery, Galbraith, Puma, Hall, Ellis, Lowe, Pass, &c--they mostly tended to the quieter end of the spectrum: the guitar wasn't frequently encountered in the tough-as-nails, abrasive music known as hard bop. The only two guitarists to have made much of an impact at Blue Note, the home of hard bop, were Kenny Burrell & Grant Green. Green was a guitarist blessed with the ability to make just about anything sound good; even something as unpromising as "Moon River" (on _The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark_) in his hands becomes convincing & impeccable jazz. His playing was supremely melodic, unornamented & relaxed; his sound was delicate, but surprisingly adaptable to even the toughest of hard bop contexts. He recorded in a lot of settings; at the time Blue Note seemed mostly interested in his more commercially-oriented work (gospel, blues, organ trio, Latin, pop standards), & it was only after Green's untimely death in the late 1970s that a lot of Green's most important & grittiest work was released, like a pair of albums with McCoy Tyner & Elvin Jones in the rhythm section, or a clutch of discs with Sonny Clark on piano. Unfortunately, as the 1960s wore on like many jazz musicians (& especially guitarists--think of Montgomery & Benson) Green more & more turned to commercially-oriented music; but his numerous mid-1960s discs amply document a figure who is as much a neglected master as, say, Sonny Clark or Herbie Nichols (though like them he is finally getting his due).

This album was released during Green's life, fortunately, & remains one of his best. The band features Larry Young on organ, Bobby Hutcherson on vibes & Elvin Jones on drums. If at a casual glance the setlist looks more "commercial" than an album like _Idle Moments_ (Green's finest album as a leader), given that it is dependent on standards rather than originals, don't let that fool you. The best of these four long, relaxed performances is a version of "Lazy Afternoon", reworked into a 5/4 groove, the theme given a tranced, elongated reading. But all four tracks are memorable, unfolding gently, with an almost mesmerizing shimmer. Despite its being on the Blue Note label, this disc is as introspective of mood as a contemporary Bill Evans trio date.

The players on this disc crossed paths several times again. The Green/Young/Jones axis frequently appeared in Van Gelder's studio: they also recorded Green's _Talkin' About_, Young's _Into Somethin'_ (with Sam Rivers), & Green's _I Want to Hold Your Hand_ (with Hank Mobley; the title track is another fine instance of Green's ability to make compelling jazz out of unlikely material)--if none of these discs quite touches _Street of Dreams_ they are still all rewarding listens. Bobby Hutcherson was also a key component of _Idle Moments_, which stands as Green's greatest achievement on disc.

Amazon.com reviewer:
One of my top ten favorite jazz albums, it captures a certain feel of West Coast Cool. It's mellow music but there is complexity and brilliance to Green's guitar work that gives the music an intricacy and vigor worth listening to over and over again. Smooth but not flaccid. But this album would be an important part of your jazz collection even without appreciating the cryptic subtleties that lend it weight. It works just as well on a simpler level, purely on it's charming, hypnotic sound. Green's guitar solos float buoyantly over the smooth sounds of Larry Young's organ work, accented by Bobby Hutcherson's vibes and an appropriately restrained Elvin Jones on drums. Don't believe me? Sample track 3, Streets of Dreams, and see.

Personnel: Grant Green (guitar); Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone); Larry Young (organ); Elvin Jones (drums). Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on November 16, 1964. Originally released on Blue Note (84253).

Tracks:
1. I Wish You Love
2. Lazy Afternoon
3. Street Of Dreams
4. Somewhere In The Night