Grant Green - Green is Beautiful
It was 2019 and I use to listen a lot of NTS sets in my previous job which involved database research and writing reports. I never had a job before where I could put headphones on and listen to music. It’s the moment in my life where I finally understood and enjoyed Jazz. It’s also the moment I started reading more after a long dry spell. A colleague (who was also a music enthusiast) recommended Ali Smith’s Spring and that changed everything. That book is now permanently one of my all time favourites.

So back to Grant Green. I first heard the track The Windjammer on Nabihah Iqbal’s NTS show. I loved how she blended a mix of genres in her sets and reminded me of our radio show. I discovered so many new tunes through her sets. I"m not a big fan of jazz guitar but I do like this album – even if it is mostly covers.

This pressing has all the bells and whistles of a Blue Note repress and each time I dig it out I’m reminded of my music taste journey.

#nowplaying #nowspinning #vinyl #records #music #GrantGreen #GreenisBeautiful #bluenote #nts #NabihahIqbal

Donald Byrd – Stepping into Tomorrow

Today feels like a proper spring day. With the windows open and coffee brewing I can enjoy my first Saturday coffee and tunes for a while. The title of this album feels very apt with a sense of relief in the air. For 2 weeks I was stuck in what felt like an eternal argument with the bank. Amongst other issues I uncovered a cluster fuck IT issues with their E-Contract system that broke them – haha. So after multiple complaints and 2 weeks of what felt like groundhog day listening to the hold music of Mitch Tambo First Nations artist covering John Farnham’s Your the Voice and then Savage Garden’s To the Moon and Back I finally got it resolved and my loan approved. Huzzah! It’s refreshing to be listening to some other tunes quite frankly. I thought I was going a little insane.

This is another Mizell Brothers production where they do their magic with a stack of guests. I love the guest vocals by Kay Haith on Think Twice. Google tells me she didn’t release her own material and remained a long term guest vocalist with Byrd. The only track I find hard work on this is Rock n Roll Again – it just goes on a bit with the doo wop vocals and feels kind of outta place…

I really love the cover art of this (painting by Greg Edwards) and the photography on Places and Spaces. They both feel timeless.

For a fancy Blue Note pressing with all the tick box criteria, I picked this up for a very reasonable price at Plug Seven recently.

#nowplaying #nowspinning #vinyl #records #DonaldByrd #SteppingintoTomorrow #bluenote #jazzfunk #fuckbanks