Search - Johnny Griffin :: Return of Griffin

Seventies but still superb jazz

Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 08/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is what is called a "late" album. It is not a fifties album neither a sixties album which for what matters to jazz in a lot of cases means spectacular and historical performances. In this case we're talking about a seventies album from Griffin but this one is still a fantastic session even if it came from a less important decade. This album is really good, it is what is called a session "just right", you can easily hear it for yourself if you have the patience to listen to the first blows of "Autumn leaves". The line up is not so well known, anyway they play really right. The band was the combo that played the first american tour Griffin did at that time in fiteen years. The Griffin who played here was still "the fastest gun in the west" but he had also develop a more mature melodic taste .. I can say that he became a better player for sure. In the sixties he was terrific, spectacular, aggressive, here he displayed a more mature way of "tenoring". Not that in the sixties Griffin was not great, on the contrary he was unbelievable, but here he showed another side of his playing. In this album there's still room for fast playing believe me, but also for melody and memories ... fantastic Griff!

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