Johnny Griffin - On Riverside: Johnny Griffin '2023

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. 63rd Street Theme
02. I Wished On The Moon
03. Wade In The Water
04. The Midnight Sun Will Never Set
05. Cherokee
06. Low Gravy
07. Travelin' Light
08. Olive Refractions (Album Version)
09. Stix' Trix (Instrumental)
10. Black Is the Color Of My True Love's Hair (Album Version)
11. Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me
12. Tickle Toe (Album Version)
13. Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
14. In The Still Of The Night
15. Ow!


 Read moreBorn John Arnold Griffin III in Chicago, Illinois, on April 24,
1928, he resided on the South Side of the Second City with his mother, who was a
singer, and father, who played cornet. An adolescent Griffin heard Gene Ammons
play in the big band of King Kolax. Two years later he picked up an alto
saxophone, and soon thereafter was working with bluesman T-Bone Walker. A
student at DuSable High School, he was tutored by the legendary band director
Captain Walter Dyett. Upon graduation, he toured with Lionel Hampton's big band,
switched to the tenor sax, and moved to New York City. The late '40s saw Griffin
honking his share of R&B with Joe Morris up to 1950, Joe Morris' band in 1950,
and with Arnett Cobb in 1951. He enlisted in the armed services stationed in
Hawaii and played in an Army band.

After his military commitment, he returned to Chicago and was in the company of
Thelonious Monk's various ensembles up to the mid-'60s. Griffin cut his Blue
Note album Introducing Johnny Griffin in 1958, and that year formed a sextet
with Detroiters Pepper Adams and Donald Byrd. He collaborated with pianists Bud
Powell and Elmo Hope, was briefly enlisted by Art Blakey as a member of the Jazz
Messengers, energized his solo recording career for the Riverside label, and
obtained his nickname, "The Little Giant," with that eponymously titled LP in
1959. His most famous and popular collaboration was with fellow saxophonist
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. Griffin also recorded the legendary A Blowin' Session for
the Blue Note label with John Coltrane and Hank Mobley.

Griffin grew weary of the U.S. and its apathy regarding jazz, so he became an
expatriate. He was living in Paris, France, by 1963 and made many albums with
European rhythm sections for the Storyville, Black Lion, and SteepleChase
labels. He was also a charter member and chief soloist for many years in the
Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band alongside American and Continental
standouts. The year 1975 was an important one for Griffin, who was featured with
the bands of Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie, as documented in recordings of
their sets at the Montreux Jazz Festival. He also collaborated with German
saxophonist Klaus Doldinger and his fusion band Passport. In the late '70s,
Griffin returned to the States to record for the Galaxy label, and toured with
fellow expatriate tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon.

He left Paris for the countryside of the Netherlands to live on a farm, then
headed to the Côte d'Azur in 1980, and in 1984 to rural Availles-Limouzine.
In 1986 he was a member of the Paris Reunion Band with Woody Shaw, Dizzy Reece,
Slide Hampton, and Kenny Drew, making one album for the Sonet label. During his
time in France, Griffin recorded for the Antilles and Verve labels, including
The Cat in 1991 and Chicago, New York, Paris in 1994. Often, during the week of
his birthday, Griffin made regular appearances at the Jazz Showcase back home in
Chicago. In his later years he collaborated with pianist Martial Solal and
saxophonist Steve Grossman. Griffin passed away at age 80 on July 25, 2008, in
Mauprévoir. © Michael G. Nastos
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Johnny Griffin - On Riverside.rar - 484.6 MB

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