Grant Green’s ‘Solid’ To Receive Reissue Through Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series

Grant Green’s Solid is receiving a new reissue courtesy of Blue Note Records’ Classic Vinyl Series. 

The new pressing of the jazz guitarist and composer’s 1979 LP is due out this October. It is stereo, all-analog, and mastered by Kevin Gray from Green’s original master tapes. Optimal handled the vinyl pressing.

Like many of Blue Note’s releases across the ‘70s and ‘80s, Solid captures a previously-unheard session from 1964, which saw Green play with Joe Henderson (tenor saxophone), James Spaulding (alto saxophone), McCoy Tyner (piano), Bob Cranshaw (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums). 

The session, which spanned tracks including “Grant’s Tune,” “Ezz-Thetic,” and “The Kicker,” was recorded at the storied Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. An AllMusic review from Steve Huey called the record “one of Green’s strongest jazz outings and a unique standout in his catalog,” praising its complex twist and turns and enthusiastic approach to hard bop music. 

Solid is not the first of Green’s records to join Blue Note’s Classic Vinyl catalog. The reissue series also contains Green’s 1971 release Visions, Green Street and Green Is Beautiful, all of which were recorded at Van Gelder. Other artists highlighted in the catalog include Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, and Jackie McLean. 

Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1935, Green has been cited as one of the “most sampled” guitarists of all time. Although he received early guitar instruction from his father and Forrest Alcorn, he was primarily self-taught, learning to play by listening to records. After moving to New York City at the turn of the 1950s, he served as Blue Note’s in-house guitarist for four years, from 1961–1965. After over a decade of successful touring and live performance, he died from a heart attack in 1979. He left behind six children—one of them, Grant Green Jr., is also a guitarist.

Shop Blue Note’s Classic Vinyl Series here.