Search - Johnny Griffin :: From Johnny Griffin with Love

JOHNNY ARNOLD GRIFFIN IS HIS REAL NAME. He was also called "The Little Giant" or "The Fastest Gun Alive" and "The Tough Tenors" when he was playing with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. Johnny Griffin was the fastest swinging tenorplayer in jazz which you will hear when you listen to this 3 CD + 1 DVD box set!

Johnny Griffin was one of the many fabulous tenorplayers like Illinois Jacquet, Earl Bostic, Jack McVea, Arnett Cobb and Dexter Gordon that came from the Lionel Hampton Band. He also played with Thelonious Monk before he settled down in Holland and later in France where he played with the other expatriates Bud Powell, Kenny Drew, Art Taylor and Kenny Clarke. CD1 was recorded in April 1964 when he played the Montmartre Club with Art Taylore, Kenny Drew and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen. CD 2 was also from the Montmartre recorded July 10, 1984 with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (The Tough Tenors) Harry Pickens, Curtis Lundy and Kenny Washington. CD 3 was recorded at Jazzhus Slukefter in the Tivoli Garden July 15th, 1989 with Kenny Drew, Jens Melgaard and Ole Streenberg. The DVD was recorded at the Village Vanguard in New York 1981 with Ronnie Matthews, Ray Drummond and Kenny Washington. It also contains two numbers from Slukefter 1985 with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Qurtet. If you like heavy, swinging jazz, this is the box set for you. Johnny Griffin is taking care of business, as they say, from the first note to the last...

DVD track list
1. Opening & Blues For Gonzi
2. A Monk's Dream
3. 56 & Closing
4. S'Wonderful
5. Shiny Stockings