Johnny Griffin And hisSuper 20

[Michael Ward]

One of my favourite tenor tracks is " The way you look tonight " from Johnny Griffin's " A blowing session " when the Little Giant 's sheer ,monsterous playing eclipses everyone including Trane.What a line up ,Art Blakey , Lee Morgan etc. Johnny Griffin, his Super 20 and his Link , sound and look the ABSOLUTE BUSINESS!!!!! Wot a player.

[TenorReinier]

I couldn't agree more. This rocks.

So does his playing with Monk Live at the Five Spot. His double time in (among others) Blue Monk and In walked Bud is way, way beyond the league of many others. His playing is drenched in blues. Little Giant da man. 8) 8) 8)

[swingerini]

Can't argue with that . :D

[dolphyo]

i've seen this man/artist play twice and each time conduct himself and his jazz tenor with conviction! a veteran of the highest caliber. the chicago sound is still intact only now bigger and fuzzier? power,yes. ideas,ridiculous. bop,authentic.doubletime,when he feels like it! ballads,full of melancholy and strentgth. don't sleep on this. he is a true improvisor and not just a player! big difference!

[swingerini]

Speaking of sleeping on Griff ...

One night; late, when I was asleep, the jazz radio station was still on
at low volume . I was apparently half asleep, cuz I heard this incredible
tenor playing leaping out of the speakers .

The rhythm section was playing very straight and the trumpet was
clearly a swing era player, but the recording sounded newer .

So, as I came to full attention, I'm listening to the tenor soloist in
wide-eyed wonder . Who is this guy ??

The double time was absolutely SICK ! It was so fast yet every note
clear it was 2nd to no one of that persuasion, including Bird.
At the same time he was honking on the bottom of the horn, like Prez,
and then leaping up into the altissimo for a bluesy wail .

But the way it was all put together in the solo I'd never heard anything
like that . I thought if this is some young player, wow ! That's the
1st time I've heard anybody playing that derivitively putting it together
in such a rooted way .. it had a certain authenticity to it but was mixed
up in a way that was the sum, instead of the parts .

So, I can't wait to hear who this young player is.

At the end of the track the DJ announces the previous three tracks that
he played, along with this last one which he only announces as Roy
Eldridge, playing[I forget the song title] .. So, I fly downstairs to log-on
to the internet to do a search for that song title .

I find out it was Johnny Griffin in 1977 !! :shock: :shock:
I don't have enough music from that period with Griff who was by then
an expatriate of 15 or so years living in Europe, so I was really floored.

I thought it might be some Euro player .. and it was.

Johann Arnold Griffin III :lol: :lol: :lol:

Man he was tearin it up, and he was evolving still .

He's not the "little giant" to me .. he is just a GIANT .